CEBU CITY TO HOST AGE GROUP CHESS
Cebu City to host first major chess tournament since 2007 Hundreds of top players to join National Age Group Championships in May Group thanks Gov. Davide, CCSC and other individuals for support
Cebu City will host the national finals of the 2017 National Age Group Chess Championship on May 2-10 at the Robinsons Galleria-Cebu Atrium.
The tournament that draws the best players in the country who are vying for slots to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) + Age Group Chess tournament in June in Malaysia will be held for the first time in Cebu City.
“This is the first national chess tournament that is hosted in Cebu City. And it has been a long time since Cebu hosted a major chess event. The last time I believe was back in 2007, which was the 6th Asian Individual Chess Championships,” said Engr. John Velarde, the lead local organizer of the tournament.
“Medyo gipit pa rin sa budget. But we will try to make things work. NCFP has been very supportive. Medyo na bag-ohan pa lang in dealing with the bureaucracy in the government but I hope that at the end of the day, we can pull this off. Hinay hinay lang og trabaho,” said Velarde.
The tournament will have the Boys and Girls Under 8, Under 10, Under 12, Under 14, Under 16, Under 18 and Under 20 age groups.
“The money that Gov. Hilario Davide III gave is the seed money that assured the hosting will be done in Cebu. But it was not enough, so we had to look for other sources, thankfully the Cebu City Sports Commission shouldered the trophies and medals and some individuals have pledged their support to make this work,” said Velarde.
Jerish Velarde, John’s son earned a slot in the Boys U12 competition following his third place finish in the Visayas Leg. He will be joined by Kristina Concepcio Belano and Jonas Dustin Bajo who also placed third in the Girls U10 and Boys U18 categories, respectively, in the Visayas elimination held in Aklan. Other Cebuano players are currently in Davao City to claim a slot through the Mindanao elimination which started last Friday. /