THE country’s biggest grass-roots development program for chess, the Shell National Youth Active Chess Championships Visayas Leg will hold its 21st edition on July 13-14, at the SM City Cebu Event Center.
The tournament, which discovered some of Cebu’s best junior wood pushers namely Rhenzi Kyle Sevillano and Vic Glyzen Derotas, returns to continue its mission of scouting the country’s next chess Grand Masters.
Derotas and Sevillano of the University of San Carlos (USC) topped their respective divisions in the National Finals of the 20th Shell National Youth Active Chess Tournament last year at the SM Megamall in Manila.
Sevillano dominated the boys division while Derotas won the girls kiddies division, improving her third-place finish in 2011.
The annual tournament initiated by Shell Petroleum Philippines will feature two divisions for both boys and girls.
The Juniors class is for players 20 years old and below while the Kiddies division is for players in the 6 to 14 years age bracket.
Some of the country’s brightest chess players come from the tournament including grandmasters Wesley So, Mark Paragua and Cebuano Richard Bitoon.
The tournament is sanctioned by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP). For more information about the upcoming tournament, keep in touch with Odillon Badilles at 0906 8964698 and Alex Dinoy at 0922 8288510. /CORRESPONDENT DALE G. ROSAL