AROUND P50,000 in total cash prizes will be up for grabs in the 2017 Barangay Carmen Pre-Fiesta Chess Tournament here on Saturday, July 1 at barangay Carmen covered courts.
The tournament will feature at least three categories: the open, executive and kiddies.
National Masters Rustum Tolentino and Levi Mercado and the heavily- favored master caliber Johnnel Balquin will lead the cast in the hotly contested open division.
First place will get P10,000 and the runner-up getting P5,000.
Third and fourth placers will receive P2,500 each. Fifth to eight finishers will be given P1,000 apiece.
The rest of the top-16 winners will settle for P500 each.
The 9th to 16th placers will receive P500 each and P200 for the 17th to 32nd places.
“Walay mapasmo ani nga torneyo kay daghan maka-premyo,” said tournament organizer Alden Ranario, adding that players who will round up the top-32 will go home with P200 consolation prize each.
SunStar Cagayan de Oro sports editor Lynde Salgados, the newly-crowned NMR-1 Eagles champion, and veterans Oscar Arroyo and Jovencio Pangilinan are expected to see action in the executive division.
They will be vying for the P5,000 top purse with P3,000 and P2,000 awaiting the second and third placers.
The top-three kiddies, Ranario said, will go home with P2,000, P1,500 and P1,000.
Fourth and fifth placers will get P600 and P400, respectively, with the rest of the top-10 winners to receive 200 each.
The top-10 performing boys and girls in kiddies division will be awarded P500 each plus medals.