ORGANIZERS of the Shell National Youth Active Chess Championships have decided to make this year’s competition a battle between the best woodpushers in the country.
Alex Dinoy of Shell said the organizing crew wants quality players join the tournament to avoid conflicts during the competition.
“We decided to let each city and school in each region to conduct an initial tournament to screen those who are the best in their area,” said Dinoy. “ This is so that we can see who is the best because we encounter a lot of problems when we accept a player who has no experience. They backed out after several rounds of losing, so it creates problems for us.”
The Visayas leg started yesterday at the SM City Cebu activity center featuring 300 of the best in the region.
Young wood pushers such as Allan Pason of Lapu-Lapu City, University of the Visayas’ (UV) Alfer Fernandez, the Balbona siblings headed by eldest Jessa and Vic Glyzen Derotas are among the top contenders in the leg.
The top two players in each category will join Cebuano Rhenzi Kyle Sevillano in the National Finals slated Sept. 22 and 23 at SM Mega Mall in Manila.
The longest running chess tournament in the country was the stepping stone of current Filipino grandmasters (GM) Wesley So, Mark Paragua and Richard Bitoon.
The tournament is sanctioned by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines. /CORRESPONDENT DALE G. ROSAL