“First Metro Cebu Camaraderie Chess Tournament” opens this Saturday at Parklane

CEBU CITY, Philippines — To signify that the over-the-board chess tournament is back in Cebu, the RiChessMasters will be holding a socially distanced wood pushing tilt dubbed  “First Metro Cebu Camaraderie Chess Tournament” on Saturday, May 8, 2021, at the Tupaz Hall of Cebu Parklane International Hotel.

For the past year, Cebuano woodpushers are left with no choice but to adjust to a very unfamiliar environment by playing online chess in their homes due to the restrictions brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, on Saturday, Cebu’s chess community will get to taste its first over-the-board tournament organized by RiChessMasters.

RiChessMasters, headed by its founder Ariel Potot partnered with the co-owners of the Toledo Trojans Chess Team, Atty Jean Gacang, and Rafael Perez, along with several Cebuano Certified Public Accountants (CPA) who loves to play chess.

Aside from reviving chess in Cebu, they are also aiming to unify the Cebu chess community.

“I totally support the initiative of Mr. Ariel Potot of RiChessMasters in uniting the chessplayers of Cebu. It happens we have a common objective, and that’s to produce chess masters from our respective hometowns, Cordova and Toledo City.”

“It will be more fulfilling if, along the way, we can produce chess masters not only from our hometowns but from the island of Cebu,” said Gacang, who also competed with the Trojans in the recent Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) online tournament.

The one-day tournament will feature a blitz 5+3 format. To ensure safety protocols are followed, the organizers decided to limit the participants to 38 woodpushers only.

Thirty-three woodpushers have already signed up as of this writing. Registration is free, but for those who want to have food and beverage during the tournament, they can pay P250.

A total of P5,500 worth of cash prizes awaits the winning woodpushers. Action starts at 1 p.m.    /rcg