Stay at Home Chessfest: “Grandmaster Class” gets underway today

CEBU, Philippines — The fifth edition of the monthly Stay at Home Chess Challenge spearheaded by the Cebu School of Chess gets underway at 5 p.m. today on lichess.org.

Billed as the "Grandmaster Class", leading the cast top contenders is no less than Filipino Grandmaster Mark Paragua. Also seeing action are Woman GMs Gong Qianyun of China and Nafisa Muminova of Uzbekistan.

Event organizer International Master Kim Steven Yap said who can beat Paragua will receive a P300 bounty while a win over Qianyun and Muninova is worth P150 each.

All in all, over P30,000 in cash prize will be given away to the top performers of the two-hour tilt backed up by the Budde family of Norway, Chess Infinitum Inc., and the Cebu Executives and Professionals Chess Association (CEPCA) headed by Engr. Jerry Maratas.

The champion will pocket P3,000, while the second to fifth placers will take home P2,500, P2,000, P1,500, and P1,000, respectively. The top female and kiddie players will get P1,000 each while the top senior (60-above) will have a P400 bonus.

Also, there will be lots of raffle prizes for the competitors and fans who will watch the games that will be streamed live over the Facebook page of Chargemax Chess .

Yap reminded the participants of the 'no cheating' policy such as match fixing, use of engine, use of tablebases, account piloting, and asking for player assistance. Players caught cheating will be banned in all future tournaments.

We encourage players to report any suspicious activities. This will help us organize quality tournaments in the future," said Yap. — EBV