Thread by @GbengaWemimo

I saw The Queens Gambit on Netflix yesterday and fell in love with the show immediately
It is about a female chess prodigy and her rise (struggles too)
The show reminds me of MR Anthony Olumeko, our neighbor when we were living at Alagbayun (Ashi) area, Ibadan. When we moved into

That flat in 1988, I had never heard of Chess before. My parents were consumate Scrabble players and I practically grew up learning my alphabets on the scrabble board. Mr Anthony had travelled the world (sponsored by the Catholic Church) He had planned to be a priest but changed

His mind for a reason he never told me.
Two weeks after we moved into the new apartment, he saw me in the compound and invited me into his flat. I went in and he showed me a lot of gadgets and pictures of his sojourn. Then I saw a chess board and asked him what that was and he

Told me to sit down and taught me how to play immediately
He showed me the pieces and how they moved and we played
I won our first game
He laughed and called it beginners luck
I won the second game and he gave me the chess board
That was how I started playing
I love playing chess

But scrabble was the game I truly excelled in.
I discovered the scrabble dictionary at The Polythecnic Ibadan, Eruwa Campus in 1999. Before then I played with a regular dictionary. One look at the scrabble dictionary and I realized I hadn’t even been playing “scrabble” all my

Life.
The players were preparing for NIPOGA games and I was able to watch them train
Eventually I got to play and I picked up fast
When I got to Bowen University I heard an announcement one day at the chapel that there was a scrabble club for interested players
I ignored it!

When I got to 200 level, there was an announcement that Bowen University’s sport team will be going to Covenant University to play friendlies. The school announced that each player will get a daily allowance and all. I met the coach at the library. He was reading a newspaper, I

Asked him about the games and he said they had filled up the slot for scrabble players
I told him to arrange a game between me and the best players he had selected. He asked me if I was joking. I said no. He called them. We played. I won. I got to go to Covenant university! And

Subsequently I got to play at Igbinedion University and Leeds City University. It was fun. I won medals and got to make many friends but that was it for me.
I used to have dreams of “going pro” but I had to face reality when I met some of my brothers from Calabar who played the

game constantly and excellently
Nigerians are gifted at everything.
I still have my boards at home.
The one my father sent to me in 2005 and the one I bought when I was teaching people to play at Roseway guest house, Mile 12, Lagos but I have no one to play with at the moment

My children are just learning and all the adults around me are busy doing life!
So I play with the Holy Spirit the way chess players play the game in their heads and I am yet to beat him even once!
His win is my win, so I don’t mind