Search for future Grandmasters starts at National Age Group Championships

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s mission to produce future Grandmasters head to the Visayas as the FIDE-rated National Age Group Championships unfolds Friday up to June 6 at the Oriental Convention Center in Dumaguete City.

Hosted by Negros Oriental Gov. Manuel “Chaco” Sagarbarria and organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines, the weeklong meet will have 500 participants — the most in the 24-year history of the annual tournament — eyeing to qualify to the Grand Finals.

The National Championships is set June 22 to 30 at the Dapitan Sports Complex in Zamboanga del Norte.

The top eight per division — boys’ under-18, U16, U14 and U12 and girls’ U18, U16, U14 and U12 — will advance to the finale, where the winners get the chance of competing internationally.

“Our hope is to produce future Grandmasters,” said NCFP chief executive officer Grandmaster Jayson Gonzales.

GM Eugene Torre, Asia’s first GM, will be attending the inaugurals fresh from his successful 2nd Eugene Torre Cup, another age group tilt that has the same target of discovering talents.

Apart from Sagarbarria and Torre, NCFP chairman/president Butch Pichay, Negros Oriental Congressman Manuel Sagarbarria, Negros Club 64’s Adji Alamillo and Little Kings Men’s Ernesto Torres will also attend the opening ceremony.