It's Half and Full: It is .5

2 days ago (hoping here I got it right) I got an email about the reasons why NCFP made a serious blunder in staging the 2009 Philippine National Age Group and Juniors Chess Championship in Aklan, Province.

Points made:

"The concentration of strong players e nasa metro manila or NCR, tapos metro manila schools have been recruiting strong provincial players in the past 8 or 10 years. so bakit mo papahirapan yung mga nandito na na magagaling na bumalik uli para sa Nat'l Age Group at Juniors? Holiday economics? "

"Sa hirap ng buhay ngayon, pangit na desisyon yan ng NCFP. Kami nga yung parents auxiliary lang ang nagbigay ng malaking pera ke NAME HERE kaya nakasali doon."

"Updates ni NAME HERE: sa 12-under lang daw at sa 16-under maraming kasali, sila NAME HERE ay 34 players sa AGE under at sa 16-under ay parang ganoon din...Sa ibang Age Group daw, yung iba 8 boards lang, ibig sabihin, 16 players lang. Would you call that a National Championship?"

Our guy has his points and I can say he swayed his pen to the right music.

Then came a fellow blogger's post seeing the situation in a different light. Cream of the crop he say's are the participants in this year's tournament. Penned it mightily and he may also be right.

Now here's my stance:

I was really surprised and saddened to find out months ago about the venue for this year's edition of the tourney. First and foremost, my two chess players from Imus, Cavite aren't there now because of financial restraints.

It was costly enough for parents to have their kids play everyday for 1 week or 2 weeks last year at the Mandaluyong Hiyas ng Lahi Center. The rising cost of jeepney fare and meals are the culprit here.

Now for Aklan edition?

NCFP added the Air fare and housing fees to the equation which made it even harder for the parents to solve.

If you are a titled or known age-grouper/junior player, funds will definitely come in and off you go to Aklan and push those pawns.

But if you are someone who woke up one day and realized you'd like to burden yourself out of boredom by playing chess this summer, and want to find out where you'll be placing on the standings after the last round (whether you'll end up in the bottom rear or butt rear) funds will be harder to find.

And you should consider yourself to be lucky if dad or mom do not give out a loud "dear are you ok?" or something to that effect question when you ask for money to go to South and participate in the tournament.

But wait! NCFP President Pichay Jr is for grassroots chess development right? Bringing the games to the provinces can be seen as grassroots too. But moving away from the center of the universe where players abound is anti-grassroots.

Hmmm! It's a case of looking at the glass with water reaching the midpart. Not full but not empty. Others call it half full while others call it half empty. My dad used to tell us about Mang Pinong, the man with the polio living beside our house. Papa said he had longer left leg then on another day he'd tell us the man had shorter right leg.

Oh man!

But my friends, this year's age group tournament had lesser participants than last year, it is a fact. Cream of the crop? It is debatable!

Lessons learned?

You tell me because until now I am lost about Mang Pinong's legs.