Organizing the first professional chess league in the country took many years.
And it was supposed to take off early this year, but the coronavirus situation worldwide kept this from materializing many months ago.
Professional Chess Association of the Philippines founder and commissioner Paul Elauria said this following yesterday’s online press conference on Zoom.
“The plans were conceptualized many years ago. But, we decided to move only while there is this pandemic,” said Elauria following a meeting with the Games and Amusements Board and its chairman by Baham Mitra.
Elauria said they plan to have around 20 to 32 team when action finally gets going by next year.
So far, they have gotten commitments from 12 teams.
And these groups are mostly local government units, with the San Juan Preda-Torres, Cagayan Valley Kings and Makati Red Gambits leading the way.
Others joining are the Palawan Beach Masters, Subic/Zambales Knightmares, Tarlac Top Guns, Pampanga Master Bankers, Pasig Pawn Stars, Mindoro Golden Tamaraws and the Manila Noble Knights.
Officials of the PCAP said a lot of work still has to be done, and in terms of the application of players, drafting, then launch.
Mitra hopes that the tournament will be off to a good start next year, and that cheating and game-fixing will be checked.