DAVAO Region had been represented well in the three-day Philippine Selection for Southeast East Asian Games-Grand Finals chess tournament held at Pace, Project 6, Quezon City on February 11 to 13.
From Davao City, we have international master (IM) John Marvin Miciano and arena grand master (AGM) Rowelyn Joy Acedo while national master (NM) Engr. Aglipay 8 Oberio is from the Island Garden City of Samal (Igacos).
They were among the cream of the crop who qualified to join the grand finals that stakes slots in the SEA Games-bound national team.
Just being on the list of the country's top contenders in both men's and women's divisions is already an achievement in itself that placing among the top three or winning a title would just be a bonus.
Of course, everybody wants to make it to the 31st SEA Games slated from May 12 to 23 in Hanoi, Vietnam. But as the saying goes, may the best man and woman win! After all, everybody was expected to give it their very best, and give it their all just to achieve their goals.
It's just a victory, not just for chess, but also for Philippine sports, to see that the SEA Games chess qualifying was conducted face-to-face where each player sat opposite his or her opponent with the chessboard between them and a chess clock to remind them of time.
Does this mean that the good old days are back? Will we be seeing more tournaments like this?
Chess was the first sport to have shifted online when the Covid-19 struck the country. Every week, in just every corner of the world wide web, there are online chess tournaments happening. More and more promising talents have also been discovered.
And Filipino chess players were never short of action. Thus, chess became a thriving sport even amid the pandemic.
But nothing beats the euphoria of seeing chess pieces being moved and chess clocks being tapped on every board or just the sheer excitement from each woodpusher's eyes. How they must have missed this, the real action, and the actual battle of wits.
Hoping against all hope that more sports will be allowed to be conducted face to face and more freely this time on the premise that minimum public health standards will be strictly observed.
It may take a while for Covid-19 to be endemic, but borrowing what Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said, "We have to live with Covid-19."
The National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP), along with other professional leagues in the country, have started to take that bold step to get on their feet again, move on, survive, and live through Covid-19.
May we all do the same.