Girls division included in Shell chessfest

CEBU, Philippines - For the first time, the girls division has been included in the Visayas leg of 19th Shell National Youth Active Chess Championships, which kicked off yesterday at The Event Centre of SM City-Cebu. Also, the organizers limited the number of participants from 500 to only 300 this time.

Suiee Suarez, the sustainable development manager of Shell, said they made such changes in order to get quality players from each leg for the national finals set on October 8 to 9 at SM Megamall.

“We want to develop this time potential girl chess masters and at the same time produce or get quality players so that the level of competition will be higher,” said Suarez.

Another banner field is expected to vie for top honors in various divisions where the top two finishers in the boys juniors (20-under) and kiddies (14-under) will gain berths in the grand finals along with the champions in two categories of the girls class.

Tournament director Alex Dinoy said they are no longer accepting six years old and below players.

“We want to choose players with experience already because some of the players will no longer continue playing after two rounds, which will greatly affect the standing of the potential champions. So in this manner, we're looking forward to a high-caliber competition in the nationals,” he said.

The event features the leading players and rising stars in the juniors and kiddies ranks including students and out-of-school youth.

Through the years, Shell Active Chess has produced world-class players such as GMs Wesley So, Mark Paragua and Darwin Laylo and Cebu’s pride IM Richard Bitoon and Kim Steven Yap to name a few.

The country’s longest running, grassroots-based chess tournament is sanctioned by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines and backed by Shell V-Power, Shellane and Shell Helix in partnership with SM Megamalls and Rudy Project.