Mitch Vergara, a contemporary of Cebu chess legend Voltaire Sevillano, will hold a memorial chess tournament for the late Cebuano player with a select group of players.
Vergara, who played with Sevillano during their younger days, is now based in Texas, USA with his family. He will be vacation in Cebu with wife Mabel and children Ryan, Megan, and Cecille.
Vergara has selected twelve to play in the Voltaire Sevillano Memorial Chess Tournament at SM Seaside this week to honor his friend.
“Voltaire was a very dear friend and one of the kindest and humblest human beings you could meet. With this, I get to honor his memory and help the Cebu chess community,” Vergara said.
Twelve wood pushers, a mix of young and old, will play in the tournament.
The old guards are NM Leonardo Alidani, Anthony Makinano, Cyril Ortega, Carlos Moreno III, Antonio Cabibil, Isen Montero, Aller Somosot, Crisanto Tan, Lincoln Yap, Joyce Lagrosas
Marphine Faith Mangubat, the only woman invited to play, and Ethan Ricthoff Carbonilla, a promising young chess talent at eight-year-old, will hold the fort for the youth.
The twelve players will play eleven rounds, with a time control of 15 minutes and 10 seconds increments. The winner gets P5,000, while the second and third placers will get P3,000 and P2,000 respectively. The rest of the participants will go home with P1,000.
Vergara, who holds a US national master title, and his wife Mabel will treat all participants to a dinner after the tournament.