By Lynde Salgados
Correspondent

OVER 150 players across the country ― many of them from Mindanao ― duel it out starting today via Zoom from 8 am to 5 pm in the nationwide grassroots chess competition for people with disabilities.

Dubbed as “2021 Philippine Sports Commission–Pilipinas Para Games (PPG) Online Chess Competition” the three-day event is inspired by the success of the country’s Para pawnpushers on the international stage.

The Para chess program, with the PSC’s all-out support, produced a first-ever Filipino world chess champion in wheelchair-riding Fide Master Sander Severino who won the online 2020 International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA) and finished with team bronze in the just-held 4th World Chess Championship, among others.

Para chess team national coach, National Master James Infiesto, however, clarified that only amateur players can participate in order to level the playing field.

“Members of the national paralympic team are no longer allowed to play as we give chance to promising and mostly undiscovered talents from the different provinces in the country,” Infiesto said.

“We are launching this project in a continued effort to address our need for a truly comprehensive grassroots sports development program for our para-athletes, and continuously harness their full potential,” said PSC Oversight Commissioner for para-athletes Arnold Agustin.

Originally staged in three regional legs, the online chess competition is now held in one nation-wide event, on six categories namely, Visually Impaired B1 Completely Blind Men, Visually Impaired B1 Completely Blind Women, Visually Impaired B2 Partially Blind Men, Visually Impaired B2 Partially Blind Women, and Physically Impaired Men and Physically Impaired Women.

The PPG is also held in partnership with the Philippine Paralympic Committee and the Integrated Philippine Association of Optometrists on the classification of registered para-athletes.

Winners will receive medals, certificates of excellence, and cash incentives.

To prepare the national para coaches and technical officials for this competition, a Para-Chess Online Technical Workshop was held on November 7, featuring six of the country's chess legends in GM Eugene Torre, GM Thomas Luther, GM Jayson Gonzales, IA/IO Casto Abundo, and IA/NM James Infiesto as resource speakers.

“In a pandemic, we are focusing on chess as it appears to be one of the best solutions for our para-athletes to get themselves going again in sports,” said Agustin.