A medical practitioner and Chess Captain at the Enugu Sports Club, Dr Johnny Onwumere, has said playing chess relieves neurological diseases such as dementia and alzheimer.

Mr Onwumere, an ophthalmologist, made the disclosure on Saturday at the inauguration of the maiden chess competition titled, “Fortifying the chess game” at the Enugu Sports Club.

The captain described chess as a “mind game” that relieved neurological diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer which he said were more common among people who did not utilise their brain.

According to him, non-utilisation of the brain puts individuals at risk of developing Alzheimer disease or dementia.

He said, “If you use chess, it will exercise your brain because it is a thinking game. It does not involve using of muscles.’’

Mr Onwumere said that the chess conclave of the sports club decided to organise the maiden tournament to promote chess in the state, explaining that chess was an internationally recognised game.

He stated that the game was registered in 2010 in the club and the conclave had overcome its teething challenges and was now in a cruising state.

He said, “Enugu Sports Club has different sections that include lawn tennis, golf, table tennis, gym and others and the chess section is the youngest because it was registered in 2010.You have to be a member of chess conclave to play it and we have about 70 registered members. On the theme, we want to fortify the chess game in the club for the first time and spread it out to other people outside the club. We have plans to popularise the game and make it acceptable in schools. In civilised countries, even children from secondary schools go for chess competition.’’

Declaring the competition open, the Chairman of the Enugu Sports Club, Nnanna Atuonwu, said the competition was the first of its kind and a thing of celebration for the club.

Congratulating the organisers, Mr Atuonwu noted that there were many notable and intellectual individuals in the section as chess was a game of intellectuals.

He stated, “We will do advocacy to reach out to others who may be interested in the game. I want to see us in next few years competing with Russians and professionals in the game globally.’’

The Deputy Leader of the chess conclave, Clement Okwor, said that chess was an intricate game and challenging, regretting that the game was not popular in Nigeria.

He said that the game had been introduced to society to understand that it was one of the best games anybody could play.

“If one starts from secondary school or primary, it would help them to overcome challenges because it’s a game of the brain,” Mr Okwor said.

A member of the conclave, Dr Jacob Emenike, explained chess game started as far back as 200 BC in Asia, then to China, India and later moved down to Spain and England.

According to him, the word conclave means an entity and chess is a war game that is made up of groups, full soldiers, castles and others.

Mr Emenike stated, “Within the castle, we have the knights, Bishop, Queen, King. The other side of the game after the queen, king then down the line. It is assumed that all of them are within the castle. When the battle starts, you have to think out how to destroy your enemy as we are fighting to protect the king. It takes two to three weeks to learn it. I am the supreme judge that settles argument when it arises among the chess players.’’

(NAN)