The chess game is a phenomenon that is celebrated worldwide with competitions and awards. For Ibukun Fawole, however, chess can be more than just a game of wits and nimbleness. The potential of the popular game goes beyond competitions and can embrace entertainment, media, branding, pedagogy and advocacy.
Having developed love for chess in primary school and having an internationally acclaimed chess-playing brother, Fawole co-established a chess media company, BruvsChess which deals with everything chess, ranging from chess news, advocacy, pedagogy, advancement, branding and sponsorships.
In further exploring the entertainment potentials of the chess game, the Ife-born media figure is the brain behind ‘Chess and Celebrity’, a chess programme for celebrities who play chess in Nigeria and all around the world.
Speaking with R, Fawole revealed how he started his journey into the world of media through chess.
“I started playing chess as far back as 1999 when my brother was taking down towns and cities with his prowess. But beyond just playing, I saw the enormous potentials that could be tapped by making chess a media thing.It is like a pot of gold.
“This was what birthed BruvsChess. Even though we are a team of professional chess players, we do news reporting, PR and celebrity programmes. It is my joy to have also oversaw the organising of the Summer Chess League in Abuja over the past couple of years,” Fawole disclosed.