PACE, NCA to hold age group chess tourney

The Philippine Academy for Chess Excellence (PACE) and the National Chess Academy (NCA) will hold the 2011 age group chess championship on February 12, with the hope of finding the next precocious pawnpusher to follow in the footsteps of Grandmaster (GM) Wesley So. Top officials of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP), led by president/chairman Butch Pichay, Asia’s first GM Eugene Torre and PACE founder GM Jayson Gonzales will grace the 10 a.m. opening ceremony at the PACE headquarters in Mindanao Ave., Quezon City. Each player will have an one hour and 15 minutes to complete a game. A five- or seven-round Swiss system will be used in the eliminations, depending on the number of participants in each leg. The top five finishers will receive cash prizes – P1,500 (champion), P1,000 (runner-up), P800 (third), P750 (fourth) and P500 (fifth). The top two female players will get P750 and P500, respectively. Gonzales will also be named as the NCFP director for grassroots development, tasked to conduct age-group tournaments as part of the country’s preparations for the Asian Youth championship on May 14 in Subic. Based on Gonzales' program, the 2011 age group championship will be a 12-stage qualifying tournament where the top five finishers in each leg will advance to the tournament grand finals on October 24. The players in each age group will then represent the Philippines in the 2011 Singapore Youth Chess Festival on December 25. They will be trained by Gonzales and selected coaches to prepare them from the week-long chessfest. – KY, JVP, GMANews.TV