Shell youth chess goes to Cagayan de Oro

MANILA, Philippines - Cagayan de Oro hosts the first of two Mindanao legs of the Shell National Youth Active Chess Championship (Shell Active Chess) this weekend with maximum field of 500 vying for top honors in the kiddies and juniors divisions.

Registration is ongoing at selected schools, chess clubs and municipal/provincial government offices and at various Shellane Showrooms nationwide with fee pegged at P50.

However, registration ends when the maximum number of 500 is reached even before the given deadline. To download registration forms, log on to www.shell.com.ph/shell_chess. For details, contact Alex Dinoy at 0922-8288510 or 0916-6882682.

Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., sponsor of Shell Active Chess, has added Cagayan de Oro to its roster of host cities to accommodate the big number of players from the 14-and-under and 20-and-under groups in Mindanao, the last stop of the eight-stage nationwide circuit of Shell Active Chess.

The circuit has so far staged the first six legs, including two in the Visayas, with 36 players already clinching berths in the national finals slated Oct. 23-24 at SM Megamall.

Davao will host the final elims leg on Sept. 25-26.

The top three finishers will advance to the grand finals of the event, backed by Shell V-Power, Shellane, Shell Helix, and McDonald’s, in partnership with SM Supermalls, Cagayan Colleges Tuguegarao, Central Philippine University Iloilo, University of San Carlos Cebu and Cagayan de Oro City Tourism.

Each leg will be an eight-round Swiss system event for the juniors and nine-round for the kiddies while the grand finals will be a nine-round tournament for both divisions.

Sanctioned by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines, Shell Active Chess is the nation’s longest running, grassroots-based chess tournament organized by Pilipinas Shell to support the empowerment of the Filipino youth through chess, in line with the company’s commitment to sustainable development.