Claim: “Five Liberian chess players who traveled to Hungary for a competition have reportedly gone missing.”
Source: KMTV Liberia
Verdict: Correct, seven players and two officials of the Liberia Chess Federation who went to Budapest’s whereabouts remain unknown.
Full Text: On Thursday, October 3, 2024, an online television platform, KMTV Liberia, posted on its official Facebook page that five players who represented Liberia in the just-ended World Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary, have gone missing.
A similar post was made by Liberian sports journalist Marcus Toweh on his official Facebook page. He also claimed that five Liberian Chess Confederation team members who competed in the recently concluded World Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary, had not returned home.
Those players include Arnold Smith, Obediah Saah, Thomas Saah, Barcon Harmon, and the women’s captain, Teta Thompson. As of the time we checked, the post has generated 208 reactions, 218 comments, and 14 shares.
On September 10, 2024, Liberia joined more than 176 countries to participate in the biennial International Chess Federation’s (FIDE) World Chess Olympiad hosted in Budapest, Hungary. The country fielded two teams consisting of five players and a captain in each of the Open and Women’s sections of the event.
The delegation of at least 12 persons left the country to participate in the 45th edition of the international chess competition.
Verification: To verify this claim, we contacted the President of the Liberia Chess Federation (LCF).
We saw a press statement signed by Thomas Karyah, president of the country’s Chess Federation, that confirmed that some members of the team abandoned and absconded the hotel.
The release condemned the Chess Olympiad Abscondment and Visa Violation by its members.
At the mid-event, the country was left utterly embarrassed when two of her registered players, namely Barcon Harmon and Obediah Saah, failed to show up to play a scheduled match against Guam.
On further inquiry, Karyah mentioned that it was observed that the players were a part of a quartet abandoning the games and absconding the team hotel to whereabouts unknown to the Liberia Chess Federation (LCF).
Other members of the quartet who escaped are, Thomas Saah and the Women’s Section captain, Teta Thompson.
Their actions, Karyah said, were immediately reported to the President of the African Confederation of Chess (ACC) for onward transmittal to the host country and FIDE.
In addition to these individuals, at the latter stages of the Olympiad, the LCF also observed that three other persons had abandoned the team hotel, and their whereabouts were also unknown.
He said the leadership of the LCF will cooperate with the Hungarian authorities to ensure that those who have abused their Schengen visas issued by the Hungarian Embassy in Accra, Ghana, bear the full consequences of their actions as individuals.
“As the governing body of Chess in Liberia, the LCF remains committed to socioeconomic development, capacity enhancement, social inclusivity, and the deployment of this noble game as a positive intervening force in the lives of young Liberians,” Karyah said.
Conclusion: Based on our research, TSM concludes that the online television station, KMTV, is correct in its claim that the players are missing in Hungary, but the number is seven rather than five. Besides the five players, two officials also went missing.
