Tersee: Nigeria’s chess prodigy with Grandmaster hopes

Not so many sports in the country can boast of having a national champion in their teenage years. But lovers of chess can lay claim to that tag through teenage sensation Tersee Ferdinand.

The 17-year-old prodigy came into the limelight when he trumped all comers to emerge winner of the National Chess Championships, the country’s biggest chess event held in December 2024.

His journey into becoming one of Nigeria’s bright prospects for the future and becoming a Grandmaster has seen him pass through several individuals who have shaped and moulded him into the champion he is today.

Tersee was first discovered by Eluekezi Chukwuwikeh also known as Chuks, one of the nation’s renowned coaches in the sport who showed him the ropes and trained him.

However, there was a need to turn Tersee into a well-rounded gentleman, which meant the young lad had to have an education whilst developing himself in the game of chess. Chuks then handed him over to a manager in the person of Babatunde Ogunsiku, in a bid to ensure he got the right materials needed for his development and career.

The journey didn’t stop there. Ogunsiku then came in contact with Olumide Akindayini, a young chess coach, instructor and national arbiter in 2022 and voiced his interest in getting Tersee into a school that would give him a scholarship and also provide support for his budding chess career.

“I spoke to the director of Platform School and he was able to key into the idea. In the end, the school gave Tersee an admission in the summer of 2024 and he was able to focus on chess,” Akindayini told PUNCH Sports Extra.

That difference was all Tersee needed as he took part in a preparatory tournament in the months leading up to the national championship. Little wonder when it was time for the annual NCC event, Tersee put on a brilliant show in the final against Abdulrahman Akintoye. After 11 rough rounds of action with nothing to separate both players, having accrued 7.5 points each, it went into a tiebreak which Tersee ultimately came through thus becoming the youngest-ever chess champion the country has produced.

Akindayini attributed that success to having a safe space to be, a healthy home to be, which allowed him to spend more time in his training.