CEZA’s first promotional and marketing event this 2019 namely the “2nd CEZA INVITATIONAL CHESS OPEN TOURNAMENT” has commenced last April 28, 2019 and took place at a new venue this year, the Robinson’s Place, Tuguegarao City.

The Cagayan Chess Development Club, the sole governing body of chess in the Province of Cagayan which is recognized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines has again chosen CEZA to be their partner for the second time gathering a total of ninety eight players from places such as Manila, Isabela and from the different towns of Cagayan Valley Region.

The Organization conducted the tournament in consonance with its vision and mission “Chess Laban sa Bisyo” engaging the minds of young leaders, the youth of today, with the belief that they have the capacity to muster excellence and competitiveness through a global mental sport and to increase awareness that sports is a toll to prevent drug addiction. To date, tens of thousands of youngsters have been motivated and credit chess playing as an activity that has positively contributed to enriching their lives and puts many of them on the path to STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) careers, an opportunity many of them need.

The traditional arbiters and stewards has opened the event with a speech from CEZA Representative Engineer Avelino Natividad, Chief of the Environment and Safety Division on behalf of Secretary Raul Loyola Lambino who was on official travel with President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on the Second Belt and Road Initiative Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing, China where CEZA would be signing series of Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) with major Chinese companies for various investments in the zone.

The viewers’ expectations of interesting and thrilling chess duels became real because many professional chess players were there to join for the hefty prize fund. The favorite, at least because of his age is a 7-year old participant from Iguig, Cagayan named Theodore Jude Garcia, and the youngest among the participants who garnered three wins.

Nevertheless, only the grand champion namely Vince Angelo Medina from Metro Manila has taken the top prize of Ten Thousand Pesos (Php 10,000) plus a trophy while the first and second runner up also came from the National Capital Region namely Recarte Tiauson and Sherwin Tiu.

CEZA on behalf of its Administrator and CEO, Secretary Raul Loyola Lambino is encouraging the Cagayan Chess Development Club to conduct more tournaments as possible in the hope of developing and training young minds in the field of chess and in the light of producing grandmasters in the future.