Pacquiao Open Chess Festival slated
THE Maharlika Pilipinas Chess League (MPCL) will host the biggest chess event in the country this year, dubbed as the Manny Pacquiao International Open Chess Festival, on December 13 to 17 at the Family Country Hotel in General Santos City.
A whopping $100,000 or P4.2 million will be up for grabs in the five-day event that is expected to draw participation from around 100 players in the Open division and 180 participants in the side events.
“For five days, General Santos will be the chess center of the world and we look forward to hosting the tournament of brilliant minds,” said boxing icon and former senator Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao, who will celebrate his 44th birthday on the final day of the tournament.
Pacquiao thanked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Philippine Sports Commission chairman Noli Eala and National Chess Federation of the Philippines chairman and president Prospero Pichay Jr. for supporting the chessfest.
The open event will stake a cash pool of P3.4 million with P1.14 million going to the champion while giving out a total of P800,000 in the side event where the eventual titlist will be getting a cool P300,000.
This early, Super Grandmaster Vitalii Bernadskyi (2615) of Ukraine has already registered for the tournament along with GMs Gaburzyan Hovhannes (2586) of Armenia and Vitaly Sivuk (2568) of Ukraine.
Other early registrants were Malaysian Tee Wee Zhun and Filipinos International Masters Kim Steven Yap and David Elorta.
And more are coming. Organizers IM Hamed Nouri and Alex Dinoy said this is the first of many tournaments planned by the MPCL. In fact, they are planning to stage at least three more international tournaments next year.
“We are truly convinced that the MPCL will become a truly global festival of chess,” said Pacquiao.
Apart from the champion, the top 20 finishers will also get a prize along with the best category winners for kiddies (under-14), ladies, juniors (under-20), seniors (60-above) and top local players from General Santos City.