HBCU Chess Spotlight: Anndrea Ojijo (NCAT)
Anndrea Ojijo, President of NCAT Chess Club
Photos by Daaim Shabazz/The Chess Drum
I’d love to get more people in chess… and getting more women into chess.
~Anndrea Ojijo
Anndrea Ojijjo is an honors student at North Carolina A&T (NCAT), aspiring to be a kinesiologist. She is the current president of the North Carolina A&T University chess club and led the delegation to Atlanta for the 3rd HBCU Chess Classic. NCAT brought 10 players from Greensboro and arrived at the King Chapel as the defending champions. They appeared to be ready.
Past presidents Nicolas Perkins and Elijah Short were returning. Top player Bobby Lewis would also return, but there were several new faces this year. In the end, NCAT could not catch up to Howard, who had only lost one game in the first three rounds. However, NCAT gained toward the end but would come up short Howard’s Samir Acharya defeated NCAT’s Akindele Omotosho to claim the team and individual titles. NCAT would come in second place.
North Carolina A&T Aggies (Team A)
L-R: Elijah Short, Bobby Lewis, DeShaun Hamilton, Tiffany Harris (TD), Nicolas Perkins, Akindele OmotoshoHailing from Concord, North Carolina, Anndrea Ojijo gave an interview to The Chess Drum and praised the organization of the event, especially the venue. She explained the chess environment at NCAT, the activities, and her goals for the coming year. She also mentioned community service activities which are so crucial for students attempting to join other organizations and to participate in community engagement.
The Aggie chess club partnered with the Kinesiology Club (Pulse 72) to hold a chess event. There have also been other activities, such as campus cleanups. NCAT appears to be serving a model for other chess clubs. They recently held their Full Body meeting to round out the year and their final community service project.
