The National Chess Federation of the Philippines will start its busy year by holding the National Age Group Chess Championships starting with the Marinduque Southern Luzon Leg set online this weekend.
Open to all NCFP members only, the two-day leg hosted by Marinduque opens with the boys and girls Under-16, U18 and the premier U20 divisions on Saturday and the U8, U10, U12 and U14 categories the next day using the Tornelo chess platform and the 10-minute, five-second increment time control.
“The Youth Championships are among the NCFP’s main programs and I am so elated because we are able to still hold these events amid the COVID-19 pandemic,” said NCFP president and Senior Deputy Speaker Butch Pichay. “I hope these tournament will galvanize the seal of our young chess players.”
The top finishers here will qualify to the National Age Group semifinals in May and eventually the Grand Finals, which will be done over-the-board in June, assuming the pandemic situation improves.
Tournament director Grandmaster Jayson Gonzales, who thanked Marinduque board members John Pelaez and Verlie Quindoza for backing up the tournament, said there would be a trial event tomorrow (Thursday) starting at 8 p.m.
Some 87 boys and 37 girls have already registered by organizers are still accepting more until today (Wednesday).
For more details, interested parties may click https://www.facebook.com/107037408127720/posts/108938014604326/ or contact Michelle Yaon at 0910-372615 for boys, Susan Neri at 0933-5505019 for girls and Dr. Fred Paez, NCFP assistant executive director for Southern Luzon, at 0921-2728172 for more details.