The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Season 96 online chess tournament is now underway.
Host Colegio de San Juan de Letran was the first to bag a win after Squires' Christian Mark Daluz defeated Gal Brien Palasigue of the San Beda University Red Woodpushers.
The 18-year-old Daluz will now advance to the Round of 16 while Palasigue will formally exit the tourney.
Only three juniors and three seniors are allowed to be fielded by each participating school, with the games being played on lichess.org website.
All games played will be knockout games, with the next round being the Round of 16, followed by the quarterfinals round then onto the semifinals. Winners of the semis round advance to the finals while the losers will duke it out for the third place.
In the eliminations, players get to play for ten minutes while an additional five will be given in the semis. The final round will allow the players to battle it out within 20 minutes.
All 10 member schools are tipped to send their representatives in the contest where Eugene Torre, Asia's first chess grandmaster (GM) and Asia's first male world chess hall of famer, will serve as analyst.
Torre is also a proud product of one of NCAA schools, the Mapua University.
Watch the exciting games on ‘Rise Up Stronger: NCAA Season 96’ on GTV which airs every weekday (3:00 p.m.), Saturdays (4:30 p.m.), and Sundays (5:05 p.m.) on GTV.
—Bea Micaller/JMB, GMA News
