DILG supports Gov. Oaminal 7-in-1 chessfest

The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) is fully endorsing the Ozamiz Gov. Henry S. Oaminal 7-in-1 Chess Festival scheduled on Nov. 10-12 at the Ozamiz City Auditorium. 

In an advisory signed by DILG Undersecretary Marlo Iringan, the DILG encouraged all provincial governors, city mayors and DILG regional directors to participate in the three-day chess festival held as part of 94th Anniversary celebrations of the Misamis Occidental Province. 

“The festival will feature an array of exciting events, including rapid and blitz tournaments for individuals and teams and simultaneous playing against Asia’s first grandmaster Eugene Torre,” said the DILG advisory. 

“To make the event interactive, IM Roderick Nava, a renowned chess livestreamer on Youtube and Facebook known as Kamatyas International, will also participate in the festival. In addition to the said activity, a series of lectures and training sessions for children will also be conducted by the country’s top masters, including Torre and Nava, and will provide valuable learning experiences to the participating kids,” the DILG added. 

“In view of the above and upon request of Gov. Oaminal, all provincial governors and city mayors are hereby encouraged to participate in the said festival scheduled on Nov. 10-12 at the Ozamiz City Auditorium.This will serve as a good avenue for promoting grassroots development and recognition of chess competitions in the country.” 

Highlight to the chess festival is the Armageddon Battle of Champions. 

A guaranteed cash prize of P60,000 is at stake in the round-robin competition organized by National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) Director and Asenso Misamis Occidental Chess Association (AMOFCA) president Rey Urbiztondo. 

The champion will bring home the lion’s share of P20,000, the runner-up will receive P10,000 and third placer P7,000. Cash prizes will also be given to the fourth up to the 10th placers. 

The participating players are GM Rogelio Antonio, Jr. , GM Darwin Laylo, IM Rolando Nolte, IM Joel Pimentel, IM Ronald Bancod, IM Kim Steven Yap, FM Alekhine Nouri, FM Ellan Asuela, FM AJ Literatus and Nava. 

Aside from the Armageddon: Battle of Championships chess tournament, six other events will also be held in the beautiful city known as the “Gateway to Northwestern Mindanao.” 

The other six events in the 7-in-1 program are the Simultaneous Chess Exhibition Matches featuring Asia’s first GM Eugene Torre and GM Antonio; the Gov. Oaminal rapid and blitz individual and team championships with guaranteed cash prizes of P500,000 in four different categories; the PCAP National Championship; the Age-Group chess championship with packages of simul, lecture and tournament for children; the 15-board Visayas versus Mindanao Duel; and the inaugural Mindanao Executive chess tournament. 

“Ozamiz City, through Gov. Oaminal, is ready to put its best face to welcome chess players and participants in the three-day festivities,” said Urbiztondo, also the team owner of Surigao Fianchetto Checkmates in the PCAP and Surigao Diamond Knights in the PCL.