Cagayan de Oro to Host Shell Chess Eliminations

THE SHELL National Youth Active Chess Championships (SNYACC) swings to Mindanao this month with a huge turnout expected in the northern Mindanao qualifying leg at SM City in Cagayan de Oro.

Organizers of the country’s longest running talent search brace for another banner field in the third leg of the five-stage regional elimination on Aug. 12-13, the region being one of the hotbeds of the sport in its more than two decades of staging.

A fierce battle looms in all three divisions with the top two from the kiddies, juniors and seniors divisions, plus the top female player gaining berths in the national finals slated in October.

Registration is on-going on a first-come, first-served basis with slots limited to 400. For details, contact tournament coordinator Alex Dinoy at 0922-828-8510. Registration forms can also be downloaded from https://www.shell.com.ph/shell_chess. Fee is pegged at P100.

Events on tap are the kiddies for players aged 7 to 12 (born between 2004 to 2009), juniors for 13 to 16 years old (born between 2000 to 2003) and seniors for 17 to 20 (born between 1996 and 1999) for boys and girls.

Twenty players have made it so far to the grand finals set Oct. 7-8 at SM Mall of Asia, including Francois Marie Magpily of Gen. Pio National High School, who ruled the junior division and took the female spot in the NCR stop of the circuit sponsored by Pilipinas Shell.