Rodel whipped Anthony Kintanar while Ronnel stamped his class over Heather Labana as the Panabo bets paced the likes of Jeffrey Alonday and cousin Jenny Alonday of the host city, Jester Andoy and Meryl Micayabas of Toril in the first round of the Pilipinas Shell-sponsored event, widely-regarded as the spawning ground of chess talents in the country.
The seven-round-robin, Swiss system tournament, the longest-running active chess tilt that has produced stars like Mark Paragua, John Paul Gomez, and Arianne Caoili, drew some 1,400 entries, including 900 from the kiddies division (14-under), who will be vying for four berths in each category — the other being the juniors (20-under) — in the grand finals slated Aug. 27-29 at SM Megamall, Mandaluyong.
Jeffrey Alonday, 13, bundled out Hidy Labano, while Jenny outwitted Karl Lacorte; Andoy whipped Robert Lacatan; and Micayabas demolished Francis Lagsub with two more rounds set to be played in the day, including in junior play — matches which are expected to spill into the night.
Earlier, Roberto Kanapi, general manager for external affairs of Pilipinas Shell, Vice Mayor Luis Bonguyan, Philippine Sports commissioner Butch Ramirez, and Davao Shell dealers Joey Mempin, Damian Cimafranca, Charlie Te and Babet Naidas graced the opening ceremonies of the event that lured bets from as far as Maguindanao and such provinces in Cagayan, Agusan, Sultan Kudarat, Koronadal, M‚lang, Kidapawan and Marbel.
The Mindanao leg serves as the kickoff leg of a five-stage series that will bring it to Cebu, Tuguegarao, Lucena and Metro Manila, making the event truly national in scope. The sport has recently given the country honors following the clinching of the GM title by Nelson Mariano II, a noted blitz player and himself a product of Shell active chess.
Matches in the junior category are also being played at presstime where the likes of top seed Jason Salubre of La Salle, Boris Diez, John Ritter Belucara and James Bulicatin of Panabo City are expected to dominate.
From Davao, the series will go to Cebu for the second leg (Visayas) slated July 3-4 at Sacred Heart School - Jesuits (Cebu City). Tuguegarao takes its turn on July 17 and 18 for the Northern Luzon stage at the People‚s Gymnasium. The Southern Luzon leg will be held July 24-25 at SM Lucena while the NCR eliminations is slated Aug. 7 and 8 at SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City.