NMs Roque, Enriquez lead Cebu chess team in Asian Zonal Championships

CEBU, Philippines —  National Masters Merben Roque and Rogelio Enriquez, Jr. will lead a six-man Team Cebu that will be seeing action in the Asian Zone 3.3 Chess Championship starting today, May 1, at the Cebu hub venue in Parklane Hotel.

The 10-day tournament following a 9-round Swiss system format will be played on Tornelo platform.

A qualifying event for the FIDE World Cup 2021, it offers a total prize fund of $1,500. The champion will pocket $700 while the second and third placers will take home $500 and $300, respectively.

Completing the lineup of Team Cebu, which is supported by RiChessmasters (RCM) headed by its Founder and CEO Ariel Potot, are Woman International Master Bernadette Galas, Richard Natividad, and young guns Jerish John Velarde and Jave Mareck Peteros.

Roque, Enriquez, Galas, and Natividad saw action in the inaugural season of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP)-All Filipino Conference that ended last month.

Roque, a former national champion, was top board player of the Lapu-Lapu City Warriors, Enriquez and Natividad suited up for the Toledo City Trojans, while Galas played for the Cordova Dutchess Dagami Warriors. They all reached the playoffs of the country’s first pro chess league.

On the other hand, Velarde, a Candidate Master and gold medalist at the ASEAN Age-Group Chess Championship, and Peteros are both decorated players who are highly touted as the future of Cebu chess.

The Cebuano contenders will face a tall order though against Asia’s top chess masters that include their countryman Grandmaster Darwin Laylo, who will start as fifth seed in the elite field of entries.

Aside from cash prizes, the top two finishers will also earn berths to the Chess World Cup slated this July in Sochi, Russia.