Thursday, July 03, 2008 Oro's chess whiz eyes Shell junior
REIGNING National Shell Active kiddies chess champion Lennon Hart Salgados of Cagayan de Oro hopes to sustain his winning ways now that he'll be campaigning in the much tougher junior division of the prestigious tourney.
The 14-year-old Salgados, a third-year student of Corpus Christi School, will try anew to earn a national slot via the Cebu leg elimination, which never failed to give him a break in past qualifying stages.
"Medyo lisod pero challenging ang junior category kay sa 20-under na ang labanan. Sa Cebu gihapon nga elimination ko mo-agi where I'm lucky to have a winning streak," said Salgados, who won a gold as board 2 enforcer of Misamis Oriental Capitol team in the just-concluded inter-province tourney in Tandag, Surigao del Sur.
The Shell National Youth Active Chess Championships unveils its 2008 season with another eight-leg circuit spread over key cities nationwide, including Naga City, which makes its return to the annual tournament after several years of absence and where chess has a big following.
The National Capital Region leg (June 21-22 at SM City Manila) kicked off the six-month long tourney, the country's biggest talent-search from both the chess-playing students and out-of-school youths, culminating in the grand championship in Manila in November 2008.
The Shell Active Chess features two divisions -- the juniors, exclusively for players 20 years and below (born not later than 1988), and the kiddies, for players 14 years and below (born not later than 1994).
"Ikaw ba ang next Pinoy Grandmaster?", this year's tourney theme aptly describes the Shell Active Chess vision of producing world-class Filipino talents. Since its inception in 1995, it has graduated chess champions like Grandmasters Mark Paragua and Nelson Mariano II, and Wesley So. "We are proud of our champions.
Shell Active Chess is the only chess tournament that is truly national in scope and has been the most anticipated annual series among the youth, particularly this Olympiad year. The program is aligned with Shell's Sustainable Development thrusts for the youth," remarks Chito Maniago of Pilipinas Shell.
The provincial legs will start at Tuguegarao on July 5-6 at the Brickstone Mall for the Northern Luzon regional, while the Southern Luzon eliminations will be held in Batangas on July 19-20 at SM City Batangas and in Naga on August 2-3 for the third and fourth legs, respectively.
Cebu takes its turn to host the event on August 23-24 at SM City Cebu, while Iloilo stages the sixth leg on August 30-31 at SM City Iloilo for the Visayas regionals.
The Mindanao legs will be held on September 13-14 (Davao leg) at SM City Davao before action winds up at the Western Mindanao State University gym in Zamboanga City for the Zamboanga leg on September 27-28.
The top three winners in both divisions in each leg will then converge in the grand finals in Manila on November 8-9 at SM Megamall, with the national junior champion to receive P30,000 plus trophy and the kiddie winner to get P20,000 plus trophy.
Pilipinas Shell has also put up additional prizes for the grand finals' third and fourth placers in each category of the tournament.
This year's Shell Active Chess, endorsed by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines, is backed by Shell Fuels, Shellane, Shell Helix, Shell Rimula, Shell Advance and McDonald's, in cooperation with SM Supermalls, LCC Mall -- Naga, Brickstone Mall -- Tuguegarao City and Western Mindanao State University.
Registration is ongoing with a fee pegged at P50, and organizers expect a maximum field of 500 participants in each of the legs of the tournament. For details, contact the following coordinators: Alex Dinoy at 744-1664 or 0922-8288510 or the local coordinators Mariano Cabugos (078) 844-0513-Tuguegarao); Joselito Castro (043 723-2568/723-4246-Batangas); NM Glenn Artuz (0918-5051825 or (054) 4750623-Naga); Odilon Badilles (0928-3022899/ 0922-2385483-Cebu); NM Cesar Mariano (033) 336-6205/0919-2833826-Iloilo); NA Ronnie Tabudlong (0929-2407371-Davao); Carlos Florendo (0920 627-9784-Zamboanga).
Registration forms are also available at all Shellane showrooms nationwide and at selected Shell depots/installations, service stations and local offices.
