Cagayan de Oro to host Shell chess elims

THE Shell National Youth Active Chess Championships swings to Mindanao this month with a huge turnout expected in the Northern Mindanao qualifying leg at SM City in Cagayan de Oro.

Organizers of the country’s longest running talent search brace for another banner field in the third leg of the five-stage regional elims on Aug. 12-13, the region being one of the hotbeds of the sport in its more than two decades of staging.

A fierce battle looms in all three divisions with the top two from the kiddies, juniors and seniors divisions, plus the top female player gaining berths in the national finals slated in October. Registration is on-going on a first-come, first-served basis with slots limited to 400. For details, contact tournament coordinator Alex Dinoy at 0922-828-8510. Registration forms can also be downloaded from https://www.shell.com.ph/shell_chess. Fee is pegged at P100.

Events on tap are the kiddies for players aged 7 to 12 (born between 2004 and 2009), juniors from 13 to 16 years old (born between 2000 and 2003) and seniors from 17 to 20 (born between 1996 and 1999) for boys and girls.

Twenty players have made it so far to the grand finals set Oct. 7-8 at SM Mall of Asia, including Francois Marie Magpily of Gen. Pio National High School, who ruled the junior division and took the female spot in the NCR stop of the circuit sponsored by Pilipinas Shell.

Meanwhile, Davao will host the next leg on Sept. 2-3 for the Southern Mindanao stage, also at SM City, before the regional elims winds up in Cebu for the Visayas qualifier on Sept. 16-17 at SM City.

The circuit, sanctioned by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines, is held to discover fresh talents, especially in the countryside, and develop them to become members of future national teams. It has produced top grandmasters, the foremost of which is current world no. 2 super GM Wesley So.