Woodpushers from Baguio and nearby areas will converge next month for the 48th Baguio Center Mall non-master chess tournament March 6 to 7.
The quarterly friendly competition is expected to draw non-master chess players not just from Baguio but also from Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog, and Metro Manila.
Mall Marketing Manager Pam Carino-Bomogao said they expect around 200 players including students as young as six years old to join the competition at the mall’s event center.
Top winners of the event will partake of a total of P50,000 cash prizes to be fought for.
The two-day event will also reward the best senior and best junior player for high school and college players, and the best female player, aside from the top 10 winners.
Considered as the oldest and longest-running chess tournament for non-masters in the country, the event has helped train young and emerging chess players since its inception in 2007.
University of Baguio chess coach and former Palarong Pambansa player for Baguio Ronald Alvez, who has won in the event twice, said he will not play this season but is looking forward to play in the 50th edition.
It was also in the same event that Alvez found young International Master Haridas Pascua, whom he later trained as the latter achieved his master’s card.
Alvez is currently training his wards to join the Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association Meet. – Ofelia C. Empian
April 23, 2024
