Cebu City’s Guinness bid in chess gets boost

Cebu City’s bid for another shot at the Guinness Book of World Records received a big boost as private schools announced  their full support to break the world record for the biggest chess championships.

Cebu City Sports Commission (CCSC) chairman Edward Hayco said Cebu City has already unofficially shattered the record for the biggest tournament when 5,000 students from different public schools participated in weekly tournaments supervised by their Physical Education  teachers and members of the CCSC.

The current record was held by Russia when it managed to attract 1,240 participants in a chess tournament.

Hayco said during a meeting with the school representatives at the Cebu City Sports Center that he is optimistic about breaking the record for the biggest grand finals slated January 2012.

“Actually we are aiming to produce 2,000 finalists from participating schools who joined the tournament for the past weeks,” said Hayco.  “Now, we are happy to say that we have 150 finalists to go.”

Each public school was required to produce eight finalists after a series of tournaments within the school. The finalists of all schools will then join the grand finals slated Jan. 21 and 22, 2012.

With the participation of private schools, Hayco estimates to attract 50,000 participants before the grand finals.

Presently, private schools, which includes major universities in the city, are still preparing for their weekly tournaments. They are also supposed to produce eight finalists to compete in the grand finals.

Hayco said public schools were made to complete their tournaments first since tournaments in private schools are easier to organize because of the availability of equipment and venue.

“In public schools, it takes time to do this kind of tournament. But I was impressed because everything went well and smooth.”