A spot in the national team seeing action in the 2023 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games and a cash pot of more than P200,000 will be up for grabs in the 2021 Philippine National Chess Championship that was unfurled Thursday at the Solea Hotel and Resort in Mactan, Cebu.
Grandmasters Joey Antonio and Darwin Laylo were the woodpushers to watch out for in the single-round robin tournament, to be participated in by 10 of the country’s top masters, including International Masters Ronald Dableo, Paulo Bersamina, Daniel Quizon and Jem Garcia.
Also seeing action are IMs Ricky de Guzman, John Marvin Miciano, Michael Concio, Jr., and Joel Pimentel, Allan Pason and Woman GM Janelle Mae Frayna.
The 59-year-old Antonio will be gunning for his 14th title, while the 41-year-old Laylo his fourth.
Aside from a slot to the AIMAG set in Bangkok and Chonburi, Thailand in 2023, a champion’s purse worth P80,000 plus P50,000 and P25,000 for the second and third placers, respectively, will be up for grabs, according to NCFP CEO GM Jayson Gonzales.
Antonio and Laylo were battling Bersamina and Dableo, respectively, at press time. Other pairings pitted Pimentel against Pason, de Guzman with Concio, Garcia versus Frayna and Miciano with Quizon.
The six-day event is bankrolled by PSC chair Butch Ramirez, NCFP president Butch Pichay, POC president Bambol Tolentino, Chess Movement, Inc. chair Dr. Ariel Potot, PCSO vice chair and general manager Royina Garma and Atty. Roel Canobas.