National Bookstore, one of the leading bookstores in the Philippines, is sponsoring a series of chess tournaments for kids and teens ages 15 and below, with three categories to qualify in. There will be five independent events scheduled up to September 2010. Hopefully more will be forthcoming and this will become a regular thing. The events are hosted at Bestsellers of Robinsons Galleria. Medals and gift certificates will be awarded to winners.It's quite encouraging to see a major company sponsoring an event like this. In our digital age peppered with games where kids kills mobs of monsters, there is a feeling of nostalgia and comfort in seeing them face each other across the board in a game of mental prowess. Slowly, some of the companies are starting to take notice. Toys R' Us already got on board in terms of giving additional prizes for the winners. Hopefully this would snowball into something big, much like what happened with the badminton craze before. And the coming rainy season may just be the perfect timing as majority of open field sports take the backseat.
You can also follow the latest about this event at the Pinoychess website.
