Karyah Makes Waves for Liberia at 45th Chess Olympiad in Hungary

Young Liberian female Chess player Abigail Karyah is making rounds at the ongoing 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary, by securing seven straight wins and remain unbeaten in the competition.

The 15-year-old wonderkid is part of the delegation representing Liberia in the 45th Federation of International Chess Olympiad with over 1500 individuals and 175 nations partaking in the month-long event.

Abigail Karyah pulled exciting wins over Brazil, Panama, Vanuatu, South Africa, Trinidad & Tobago and South Korea respectively, before triumphing in round seven of the competition on Wednesday, September 18, against Island Republic.

The current stats for the young Liberian is the best performance by any African participating in the ongoing 45th Chess Olympiad, which has also placed her first African to win seven games in a row at an Olympiad.

In the opening fixtures, the Liberia former female chess champion defeated tough opponents from Brazil, South Africa, Panama and Vanuatu. This has risen the bar for Abigail Karyah as one of the top favorites so far to win the best individual player.

Despite her individual performance, Team Liberia in the competition seems to struggle in taking top spots on the table standing, but Georgina Sackie appears to also be striking harder for Liberia 4 wins, 1 draw and two losses from seven games at the ongoing 45th World Chess Olympiad.

But speaking of the team's performance in line from Hungary, Liberia Chess Federation President Thomas Karyah expressed optimism that the tournament will be a success story for Liberia.

He mentioned that the performance of the Liberian delegation is a manifestation that the government should extend its sports focus away from football, claiming smaller sports are at risk of dying out if strategy is not changed.

He added that other smaller sports have the ability to bring pride to the country but they are not treated like the country’s lovely sports”football”.

“This is a trend we must halt as a nation else financial challenges will kill the other disciplines that have the ability to bring pride to the country,” Karyah noted.

As it stands, India currently tops the 45th World Chess Olympiad Women's section with 14 points. The event which began on the 10th of September will run till the 28th, several nations including Liberia competing for the 2024 World Chess Championships both in the open and women's section chess Olympiad.