As the 2017 National Rapid and Blitz Team/Individual Chess Championships comes off the wraps today at the Robinsons Galleria Cebu, Retired Brigadier General Pedro Biasbas couldn’t help but admire the support given by the Cebu City government to the tournament.
Biasbas, the president of the Artillery Foundation of the Philippines Inc. (AFPI), said it is the first time he has seen such support given by a government unit after Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña shelled out P100,000 from his discretionary funds to support the tournament.
“I was so touched when I paid my courtesy call to the mayor. It did not take me five minutes. He told his staff ‘you give the general P100,000 from my discretionary fund’. It’s the first time I experience from a local government official giving this kind support not even in Davao and other places. Only in Cebu,” said Biasbas in a presser last Thursday evening at the Knight Attack Chess Café.
AFPI and the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) partnered for this tournament.
Promote chess to women
Also present in the press conference was the country’s first and lone Women’s Grand Master (WGM) Janelle Mae Frayna.
The 21-year-old lone Filipina WGM Frayna is in Cebu not only to promote the two-day tournament but also help encourage more girls to try chess.
The Far Eastern University (FEU) BS Psychology Cum Laude said that she wants to break the stereotyping of female chess players in the country.
“Female chess players here in the Philippines are often described as weak in the competition that’s why as the first WGM in the country, I want to erase that stereotyping because I am a living testament of the women’s talent in chess in the country. I want to encourage more young girls to play chess,” said Frayna.