THE long wait is over as the grand finals of the Cebu Executives and Professionals Chess Association (Cepca) finally found a suitable schedule this December 9 at the residence of the group’s president, Engineer Jerry Maratas, at the Royale Cebu Estate in Consolacion, north Cebu.
The much-awaited clash of Cepca’s best woodpushers, who qualified via the monthly finals held throughout this year, will have the champion pocketing P5,000 while the runner-up will get P3,000, P2,000 for the third placer and P1,000 for the fourth placer. The fifth placer will receive P500.
Last Sunday, Edilberto Velarde Jr. and Jose Atillo completed the 12 monthly qualifiers who will vie for the grand finals on December 9. Velarde was named the monthly champion for November while Atillo for December.
They join other monthly finalists Eduardo Dela Torre (January), Mario Bustillo (February), Rogelio Enriquez Jr. (March), Joselito Loques (April), Zilverstein Torres (May), Kiedd Salazar (June), Arnolito Cadiz (July), Neal Amores (August), Richard Ouano (September) and Percival Fiel (October).
The champion in the non-qualifiers particularly Cepca players B category, the kiddies, and the lady players will get P3,000, P2,000 for the second placers, P1,000 for the third placers, P700 for the fourth placers and P500 for the fifth placers.
The non-qualifiers, who belonged to Cepca players A category, will also receive cash prizes depending on the number of participants who will register.
The tournament which will be held in simultaneous with Cepca’s annual Christmas party has a registration fee of P500 for regular members and P250 for the ladies and kiddies participants. Aside from the tournament, there will also be games with exciting prizes at stake.
This will serve as the last major tournament that Cepca will be organizing for the year.
Last October, Cepca successfully staged the annual “Boy Pestaño Memorial Chess Team Tournament” in honor of one of its founding members, the late Francisco “Chessmoso” Pestaño. The NCFP rated tournament draw some of the country’s best rated woodpushers.