Shell Batangas chess kicks off; 300 vie for honors

MANILA, Philippines - A field of 300 braces for a spirited battle for top honors and berths in the grand finals as the Shell National Youth Active Chess Championship resumes this weekend for its Southern Luzon leg at SM City Batangas in Batangas City.

The field represents the maximum number of players for the Southern Luzon leg, underscoring the tremendous response to the country’s longest running talent search that has produced the likes of GMs Wesley So, Mark Paragua, Ronald Dableo and Nelson Mariano II.

The 22nd staging of the Shell Active Chess also coincides with the centennial anniversary of Shell companies in the Philippines. The sports program is one of Shell’s enduring social investment initiatives in the field of youth development, alongside other programs in education and the arts, road safety and environmental stewardship.

Shell’s highly regarded national chess tournament for kids and young adults aged 20 and below kicked off its six-leg nationwide circuit at SM Megamall for the National Capital Region leg last week with Melwyn Kenneth Baltazar and Dale Bernardo copping the juniors and kiddies crowns, respectively.

Meanwhile, SM City Consolacion in Cebu will host the third leg on July 12 to 13 for the Visayas leg while the Mindanao elims will have two qualifiers to accommodate the huge number of entries in the region.

SM City Cagayan de Oro will stage the fourth leg on August 2 to 3 while SM City Davao will host the next on August 30 to 31.