CCSC eyes another world record

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Sports Commission (CCSC) and the Department of Education (DepEd) Cebu City aimed to gather more than 30,000 participants in their ambitious project of breaking the Guinness World Record for the largest chess tournament set by Russia.

After successfully setting a new record for the world’s largest dance class, the Queen City of the South might once again be placed in the world map through this endeavor.

Russia currently held the record for drawing 1,214 participants in the central park of Krasnoyarsk, Russia in an event organized by Eugenie Kuznitsov on June 2, 2007.

As part of their preparation for the historic event, CCSC chairman Edward Hayco along with DepEd Cebu City officials launched the chess grassroots development program as well as the coaching and officiating seminar yesterday at the DepEd Region VII office.

After the seminar on the World Chess Federation (FIDE) rules, the coaches will in turn train their team members or students in their respective schools for one month.

Right after the training will be the three-month long tournament, which will be held every Saturday in 120 schools simultaneously. It will follow a knockout system format.

 The start of competition for the Guinness world record attempt is slated on August 27. It is expected to conclude with the finals on November 19 at the Cebu City Sports Center.

“Actually, we are hitting 100,000 participants to fulfill this attempt. Ideally, there will be 50 games and a total of 100 kids per school and they will be competing against each other every week in order to create a spark of growing and lasting interest among the kids. If we will be fortunate, we will be very happy if we could accumulate that huge number of participants so that we will surely claim the title for a long period of time,” said Hayco.

“The Guinness record attempt is just a bonus. Basically, we want to implement the chess down to the grassroots program. We aim to train these kids and we will serve as their catalyst to be part of this historic event,” he added.

Each participant will be given a Guinness certificate for being part of the record-breaking tournament.

CCSC would like the students to have fun and learning at the same time with the chess grassroots development program. After the training, they will be able to experience a real tournament as application to what they’ve learned.

Hayco extended his gratitude for those who supported this undertaking including Julie’s Bakeshop as the official nutrition provider and bakeshop, Rose Pharmacy and International Pharmaceuticals Inc. (IPI).

Julie’s Franchise Corporation President and CEO Joseph Gandionco personally graced the event yesterday where he also signed a memorandum of agreement for the company’s support for the project. - THE FREEMAN