THROUGH networking of friends in and out of the chess industry, Pines City Chess Club is hoping to get more exposures of chess athletes and practitioners in the Summer Capital.
Gemma Lomboy of Happy Hollow Elementary School, together with Ruben Ternola, a chess trainer at the Baguio Center Mall and Gilbert Pascua, the father of GM Haridas Pascua thought of having a rapid chess tournament to cater to the young chess enthusiasts in honing their skills.
The trio had seen young athletes of the city fall short when it comes to experience, and vowed to dedicate a chess club to hone their skills in the hopes to have world masters.
“If we are going to compare it to Pangasinan, Gov. Amado Espino Jr. is very supportive of all chess tournaments in their place that's why our athletes might be far behind when it comes to tournament. Baguio City is only banking on the quarterly Baguio Center Mall's tournament and on DepEd's Palarong Panlunsod which happens every December only with only two players chosen based from district elimination. In short , we fall short of experience when it comes to chess. Hence , the birth of Pines City Chess Club,” said Lomboy.
Indeed the club come to life when the three enthusiasts and athletes themselves chipped in money from their own pockets to start the initial tournament.
The club’s first tournament was a trial as organizers had sent invitations through friends.
Ternola and Pascua has chess enthusiasts in their circle and have been palying chess for a long time, while Lomboy was a former coach at the Bonifacio Elementary School.
Word spread among colleagues as 84 players responded to their first call. The club then roared to life in its initial tournament.
Players from Manila, Cavite, Ilocos Region, Pangasinan, Benguet and Baguio marked the beginning of a new chess club in March 2015.
The club remained upbeat for the coming year after lining up several activities leading to their first year anniversary.
“We will try to schedule a tournament in every two months, more exposures to our athletes and to anybody who would want to hone their skills in this field,”added Lomboy.
The club’s recent event held November 25, yielded young winners such as Prince Mark Aquino, Gerone Bas-ong, Garry Villanueva, Christian Jake Sace, Daryl Penaflorida, Noel Lubrica,Stephen Estabillo, Wcliffe Aromin, Manuel Vergara, and Jeoffrey Barry.
The club will have its next event on February 4 next year in time for athletes to have exposure before the CARAA meet.
“Technically, there are only five active officers right now so we are undermanned, but there are eight officers in the club who dipped in money with us just for our tournaments, as we do not have an office yet and we just meet during tournaments. But we’ll try our best to come up with good tournaments following our two month schedule,” ended Lomboy. (Sharma Buteng
)