THE Cebu School of Chess (CSC) will bring the chess wizards to a team battle for the seventh edition of the Stay at Home Chess Challenge set on Oct. 17 to 18 at lichess.org.
The chess tilt is exclusive to Cebuanos or Cebu-based players and will have a maximum of 50 participating teams. Each team must have only three players with an average of no more than 2050 in the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) rating.
A total of P34,000 in cash prizes will be at stake in the online tournament organized by International Master (IM) Kim Steven Yap of CSC and backed by Chess Infinitum Inc. led by its president Benjamin “Boojie” Lim. The unrated players, however, will have a base NCFP rating of 1800 when calculating for the team’s average rate.
The champion team will pocket P9,000, while the second to third placers will win P6,000 and P3,000, respectively. The fourth and fifth placers will get P1,500 each.
The sixth to 15th placers will not go home empty-handed as they will get a consolation prize of P600 each.
The top players in the Ladies, Kiddies (Under-14) and Seniors’ (60-Above) divisions will each get a bonus prize of P500 with the best female and kiddie players advancing to the Grand Finals in December.
For the mechanics of the tournament, the teams will be randomly shuffled to a designated bracket and will play elimination rounds on Oct. 17. The top two teams every bracket will advance to the final round on Oct. 18.
Fans will also have a chance to win prizes if they watch the games live on the Cebu School of Chess Facebook page hosted by Yap and fellow IM Oliver Dimakiling. The registration fee is at P300 per team. Late registration after Oct. 14 will be pegged at P500. (RSC)