Age group chess tiff on sans top bets

The National Age-Group chess championships kicks off today at the Marketplace in Mandaluyong minus some of the country’s top players whose parents have chosen to boycott the NCFP-run tournament over the unsettled controversy on players’s allowances.

National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) president Mat Defensor and Ed Madrid, chief executive officer of the sponsoring Primanila Realty and Development Corp., will make the ceremonial moves ushering in the five-day tournament.

Also expected to attend the opening ceremonies are Grandmaster Eugene Torre, International Master Mark Paragua and NCFP secretary-general Sammy Estimo.

Seven of 10 players, led by Under-18 defending chmpion National Master Oliver Barbosa, who represented the country in last year’s World Youth Games in Halkidiki, Greece, are seeing action.

The other RP representatives, who have signed up, are Julius Joseph de Ramos, Wesley So, Jodilyn Fronda, Cheyzer Kristal Mendoza, Cynthia Atayde and Arianne Aguja.

Conspicuously absent is reigning 14-under Nelson Mariano III, who has decided not to compete in this and other NCFP-run events until after the chess organization paid the amount of $450 allowance due him for his participation in the World Youth Chess Championships last year in Greece.

Also boycotting the NCFP tournament are 16-under girls champion Sherilyn Cua and 10-under champion Jodilyn Fronda.

Karl Victor Ochoa, who won the Under-12 division last year, is in the United States.

A three-way fight looms in the elite Under-18 cast among Barbosa, De Ramos and NM John Paul Gomez, a finalist in last year’s national championship.

Tournament director Willy Abalos said Metro Manila entries number over a hundred with many provincial entries expected to beat the deadline set today before the start of actual hostilities at 1 p.m.

The division winners will earn the right to represent the country in the World Youth Games in Greece late this year.

Eight division champions heading the huge cast of players are Wesley So, Julius Joseph de Ramos, Oliver Barbosa, Jodelyn Fronda, Cheyzer Kristal Mendoza, Cynthia Atayde, Arianne Aguja, Ezraline Alvarez.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Age Group Asian Youth qualifier will be held on June 1-5 also at the Marketplace.

Originally set May 21, the event was moved to a later date to give way for the national age-group event. It will select the country’s representatives to Asian events such as the ASEAN Youth Championship in September in Vietnam and the Asian Youth championship in December in Singapore.