TAGAYTAY – -It’s about time we give Tagaytay, the country’s newest sports capital, a big shout-out.

In fact, a long-overdue recognition from sports fans like you and me.

And why not?

Under Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president and Mayor Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, Tagaytay City is now the favorite destination of both local and international competitions of almost all the games we love.

So aside from Tagaytay City’s year-long cool weather, breath-taking scenery that includes a view of the enchanting Taal Volcano and beautiful and hospitable people, there are even more reasons now for avid sports fans to go to this resort city in the Cavite Province.

And while Baguuo City, the country’s “Summer Capital” used to hold the honor of hosting most major international sports events in the 80s up to the 90s, Tagaytay City is now the ‘in’ place as far as sports is concerned.

One of these sports enjoying renewed popularity among local and international tourists through various world-class competitions being regularly held in Tagaytay is chess.

Yes Clyde, you heard it right — chess.

The game popularized in the Philippines by the late FIDE president Florencio Campomanes and Rodolfo Tan Cardoso and Eugene Torre and Rosendo Balinas, Jr. and Rogelio Antonio, Jr. and more recently, Wesley So, is now No. 1 sports in Tagaytay.

Of course, credit should go to Tolentino, a former secretary-general of FIDE, and his daughter, National Chess Federaton of the Philippines (NCFP) vice-president and now Cavite Gov. Athena Tolentino, for bringing chess closer to the people and making chess synonymous with Tagaytay.

This month, Tagaytay is again putting its best smile ever by again hosting the 2024 Asian Juniors and Girls Chess Championships at the Knights Templar Hotel.

And in case you didn’t know it yet, the Asian Juniors is one of the most prestigious competitions in Asia in the FIDE and the Asian Chess Federation calendars.

As veteran chess journalist Ignacio Dee wisely put it, the Asian Juniors serves as a good training ground for future boys and girls champions 20 years old and below.

Six Filipino players, led by two-time champion GM Rogelio Barcenilla, Jr.

have won the Asian Juniors.

Barcenilla was easily the best with two titles in 1989 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and 1991 in Kozhikode, India

The other Filipino Asian juniors champions are Domingo Ramos (1980, Baguio), Ricardo de Guzman (1981, Dhaka), Marlo Micayabas (1982, Baguio), Enrico Sevillano (1986, Manila), and Nelson Mariano (1994, Shah Alam)

After Mariano, no other Filipino player managed to win the Asian Juniors, with World Chess Olympiad double champion India winning 17 of the next 25 editions from 1995 to 2023.

Interestingly, the first-ever Asian Juniors was also held in Baguio City, with Murray Chandler of New Zealand emerging as its inaugural champion.

Two Filipino players — Ramos and Micayabas– bagged the championships in Baguio City.

This year — 2024 — Tagaytay is hosting the Asian Juniors for the nth time.

And maybe, another rising Filipino player will emerge as the best of them all in Asia.

* * *

One of the young female players to watch in the Asian Juniors and Girls Chess Championships now being played at the Knights Templar Hotel is WNM Jemaicah Yap Mendoza of Sta.Rosa, Laguna.

The 12-year-old student of Leon C. Arcillas National High School, who earned her WFM norm during the Eastern Asia Youth Championship in Bangkok, Thailand in November 2022, is set to represent the country in the Under-14 category in World Age Group Championships in Florianópolis, San Carlos, Brazil on Oct.28-Nov. 10.

A Grade 7 student, Mendoza will gun for her WIM title and first WGM norm.

NCFP official GM Jayson Gonzales also had nothing but good words for Mendoza.

“Her youthful exuberance and sharp tactical skills were a testament to her potential to become one of the future stars of Philippine chess,” said Gonzales.

Good luck.

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AUTHOR PROFILE

Ed Andaya