Street Urchin Wins Chess In Slum Competition

 By Adeolu Adegbaju

Oshodi, Lagos

Fawaz Adeoye is a nineteen-year-old boy who came from Aiyegun Ibadan, Oyo State. Fawaz came to Lagos a year ago, having no relative and a place to lay his head, he opted for Oshodi bridge in Lagos. There he lived and earned his living. Fawaz doesn't have proficiency in English but he is determined not to let that be a barrier to achieving his dreams. 

He was fortunate to be among a number of boys who also live under Oshodi bridges that were taught chess by the convener of Chess in Slum, Tunde Onakoya, and the tournament director, Samson, also known as Zlatan. The boys were taught chess for two weeks after which a competition was held and Fawaz emerged as the winner of the competition.

In an interview with the writer of this report, Fawaz made it known that he wishes to "coolheadedly" learn more about chess in order to compete nationally and internationally and leave Nigeria. 

Fawaz's story is one of the stories which tells us that our background has nothing on us on our way to success.