GMs mix it up in La Union chess

MANILA, Philippines - Top notch chess goes up north as the seventh La Union Open gets under way today with the country’s leading players and rising stars vying for top honors at the Ortega gym in San Fernando City, La Union.

Grandmasters Joey Antonio, Mark Paragua and Oliver Barbosa and IMs Rolando Nolte and Emmanuel Senador head the field in the four-day tournament which offers P50,000 to the champion.

GM Eugene Torre, who won the last staging of the event in 2007, has begged off to help the organizers run the tournament also held to test the local players’ mettle in rapid chess. Each player will be given 25 minutes and 10-second increment per move, the prevailing rapid format used by the World Chess Federation (FIDE).

The competition is sanctioned by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) headed by chairman/president Butch Pichay Jr. The runner-up will get P25,000 while the third placer will receive P15,000.

Other divisions on tap in the event, backed by Gov. Manuel Ortega of La Union, Mayor Pablo Ortega of San Fernando City, Rep. Victor Ortega, Abono Partylist Rep. Francisco Emmanuel Ortega and official hotel Villa Estrella Resort, are the non-master, ladies, seniors (50-years-old and above), juniors (15-to-20 years old) and kiddies (14-years-old-and-below).