Jam-packed with precise and high-accuracy moves, excruciating mental warfare, heartbreaking blunders, and mind-frying endgames, the Visayas State University (VSU) and Baybay City Senior High School chess players showcased their brilliance in the recently concluded 2023 Goodwill Games Chess Event on April 24, 2023, at the Visayas State University (VSU) Library, organized by the Institute of Human Kinetics (IHK).'
From the most basic Scholar's mate opening, the highly methodical London System, the most standard Ruy Lopez and Italian game, to the most popular and highly technical Queen's Gambit, the English Opening, and the most solid Sicilian, and Caro-Kann defense. The event was filled with countless varieties of move variations and spectacular combinations, which the participating players utilized from their repertoire of chess technicalities to gain even the slightest advantage over their opponents.
The event was comprised of carefully selected 32 magnificent individuals from the VSU Varsity Team, VSU Varsity Alumni, VSU Alumni, VSU Integrated High School Students (VSU-IHS), and Franciscan College of Immaculate Conception (FCIC)-Baybay City, with a high level of thinking capacity, and extraordinary board visualization.
The event followed a 6-round Swiss system format in a rapid game mode, where chess players are given 20 minutes to make a move without any time increment. Despite time pressure factoring in on their matches, interesting games and quality moves were being displayed by chess prodigies as they carefully executed their strategies and creative tactics on the board.
It was the brilliance of Remegio Galenzoga from Baybay City Senior High School who went home with a first-place trophy after dominating the whole event with 5 ½ points (5 wins, 1 draw) to finish. He was followed by a VSU Alumni, Mr. Patricio Prieto Jr. after a 5-point finish (5 wins, 1 loss). John Oliver Llorca, a VSU Student, also recorded 5 points but finished third since he and Patricio Jr. were separated using a tie-breaking system. VSU Student, Joshua Abrillo received the last trophy after finishing fourth with a total of 4 ½ points (4 wins, 1 loss, 1 draw).
[Editor's note: A previous version of this article contain some erroneous detail about which school the chess champion hails from. It previously said Franciscan College of Immaculate Conception (FCIC) but has now been replaced with Baybay City Senior High School.]