Inter-Provincial Chess championship

gets underway in Aklan

BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL

Senator Manuel Lapid (left) makes the ceremonial moves with Aklan Governor Carlito Marquez at the opening ceremony of the National Inter-Provincial Chess Championship. Looking on are NCFP executive director Wilfredo Abalos, Aklan Rep. Florencio Miraflores, Grandmaster John Paul Gomez, Grandmaster Darwin Laylo, Provincial Sports Coordinator and tournament chief arbiter Wilfredo Neri and Sangguniang Panlalawigan member Jean Rodriquez / PHOTOS BY BOY RYAN ZABAL

KALIBO, Aklan - The National Inter-Provincial Chess Championship with two grandmasters and a dozen of titled players representing the 24 chess teams opened on Sunday.

At the opening ceremony, Senator Manuel 'Lito' Lapid and Aklan Governor Carlito Marquez made the ceremonial moves at the Gov. Corazon L. Cabagnot Tourism and Training Center in Barangay Old Buswang.

Grandmasters John Paul Gomez and Darwin Laylo, Aklan Rep. Florencio Miraflores and Sangguniang Panlalawigan Member Jean Rodriquez also graced the short opening ceremony.
Organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP), executive director Wilfredo Abalos said the province of Aklan is the number one supporter of chess in the country.

The nine round Swiss system tournament allows a maximum of five players for each team. The team, however, is allowed one titled player (GM, International Master, National Master, Fide Master).

Asian Zone 3.3 champion GM Laylo leads the multi-titled Tagaytay and three-time national junior champion GM Gomez of Local Water Utilities Administration-Quezon City in the five day competition from April 11 to 15.
Provincial Sports Coordinator Wilfredo Neri is the chief arbiter of the chess tournament sanctioned by NCFP.

Neri said the chess championship brought another honor to Aklan after the province hosted the national age-group championship last year.

Aside from Laylo and Gomez, other notable chess players seeing action are IM Ildefonso Datu of Boracay Chess Club-A, IM Oliver Barbosa of Rizal Province, NM Rolando Andador of Negros Integrated Chess Association, FM David Elorta of Makati City, FM Emmanuel Senador of Laguna, FM Roderick Nava of DAR-Lanao del Sur, NM Rodrigo Atotubo of Iloilo, NM Francis Jocson of Capiz, NM Alfred Acaling of Aklan-B, NM Alidani Leonardo of Cebu and Alcon John Datu of LWUA-B.

In the first round matches, 7th seed Laguna bannered by FM Senador blanked Aklan-E which fielded the future all-female squad of the province led by national age group champion Mira Mirano, 4-0 while top seed Boracay Chess Club-A of IM Datu outduelled the team Capiz of NM Jocson, 2.5-1.5. .

The second seed Tagaytay team led by top bet GM Laylo also asserted its supremacy against 14th seed Cebu, 4-0 while fifth seed LWUA-A of GM Gomez subdued Iloilo Club 64, 3.5-0.5.

A total of P300,000 will be given away in the nine-round chess event with the P100,000 lion's share going to the champion. The runner-up and third placer will receive P70,000 and P50,000 respectively.