Chess In Philippine Schools

Hey there!

Much has been written about chess in the schools programs all over the world, much has been said and in fact it has slowly and surely given financial back-up to a more or less sleepy chess industry, assuring the chess kingdom of a chess-playing population.

Our friend Rusticbull wishes, in his latest post called Chess, Where? and in it, he is calling for a revolution, a cultural one. Wishes like these are well, wishes that can come true but would have to take some time and effort.

We all are part of a revolution. A cultural revolution and bloggers are playing a major role in this. Keep it up all you bloggers!

And about chess in Philippine schools, I can say the Department of Education has helped developing our Royal Game by sponsoring the Annual Palarong Pambansa where chess is one of the major sports.

In the private sector, schools have helped too in their own chess programs by offering chess clubs, chess clinics, chess varsity and chess team tournaments on a year-round basis.

Sadly though we do not have as of now, programs like this and this. Inspiring? Inggit-ing? Hahahaha!

Ateneo de Manila University in katipunan I heard has quietly but effectively started a chess clinic which I hope one day will become a school on it's own. Xavier School in San Juan also has been conducting chess clinics headed by Mr. John Sy plus NM Erwin Carag and IA Rolly Bautista.

Let's have more of these in our country please!

And onto international chess.

Corus Chess Tournament 2009 is only days away and yes, our very own GM Wesley So will be playing in Group C. An invitation only tournament which gives all of us the air of eliteness, we hope and pray our wonderkid tops his category in his first try. Good luck Wesley!

Read on for further details:

Location: The Corus Chess Tournament 2009 will be held from 16 January - 1 February 2009 in Wijk aan Zee. The tournament venue is the De Moriaan Community Centre Dorpsduinen 4, 1949 EG Wijk aan Zee) and the nearby bar de Zon.

Corus, group A

GM Alexander Morozevich RUS 2787
GM Magnus Carlsen NOR 2786
GM Vassily Ivanchuk UKR 2786
GM Levon Aronian ARM 2757
GM Teymour Radjabov AZE 2751
GM Wang Yue CHN 2736
GM Michael Adams ENG 2734
GM Sergei Movsesian SVK 2732
GM Sergei Karjakin UKR 2730
GM Gata Kamsky USA 2729
GM Leinier Dominguez CUB 2719
GM Loek van Wely NED 2618
GM Daniel Stellwagen NED 2605
GM Jan Smeets NED 2604

Average rating: 2720
Category: 19

Corus, group B

GM Krishnan Sasikiran IND 2694
GM Zahar Efimenko UKR 2680
GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov UZB 2672
GM Alexander Motylev RUS 2672
GM Francisco Vallejo Pons ESP 2664
GM Andrei Volokitin UKR 2659
GM Nigel Short ENG 2642
GM Fabiano Caruana ITA 2640
GM David Navara CZE 2633
GM Erwin l'Ami NED 2610
GM Jan Werle NED 2582
WGM Hou Yifan CHN 2578
GM Henrique Mecking BRA 2567
GM Dimitri Reinderman NED 2543

Average rating : 2631
Category : 16

Participants group C

GM Wesley So PHI 2610
GM David Howell ENG 2593
GM Abhijeet Gupta IND 2580
GM Tiger Hillarp Persson SWE 2543
GM Friso Nijboer NED 2540
GM Eduardo Iturrizaga VEN 2538
IM Manuel Leon Hoyos MEX 2535
GM Oleg Romanishin UKR 2532
GM Frank Holzke GER 2524
FM Anish Giri RUS 2466
WGM Dronavalli Harika IND 2462
IM Roeland Pruijssers NED 2458
IM Manuel Bosboom NED 2416
FM Ali Bitalzadeh NED 2370

Average rating : 2512
Category : 11

To get all the details you want which I do not have here, visit Corus Chess 2009 Official Site.

Lastly, Kenya Chess Forum has a nice thread called Insight into Kasparov's Chess Brain, Read here.