Women’s chess team in professional tournament – Manila Bulletin

Inspired by the popular Netflix miniseries “The Queen’s Gambit,” Palawan has lined up an all-female team in the fledgling Professional Chess Association of the Philippines, which debuts on January 12, 2021.

World Chess Olympiad veterans Shania Mae Mendoza, Catherine Secopito, Marie Antoinette San Diego and Cecilia Cuizon will lead the team that will be aptly named Palawan Queen’s Gambit.

The other members of the team, which will be led and coached by Susan Neri, are Mikee Charlene Suede, Carmelites Abanes and local talents Marife dela Torre, Yanika Eli Seratubias and Jesibel Maberit.

“By choosing to be part of an all-female team, we will get more interest from the Philippines to play chess,” said team owner Jojo Mitra, whose brother Abraham is chairman of the Games and Entertainment Board.

Neri agrees.

“Chess is not just for men. It is time for women to play and show that everything is fair in the game, ”she said.

The miniseries “The Queen’s Gambit” is based on Walter Tevis’s 1983 novel of the same name that details the life of an orphaned female chess prodigy, Beth Harmon, on her rise to the top between the mid-1950s and 1960s.

True to its goal, Palawan stopped choosing the cream of Filipino chess during the first PCAP draft over the weekend.

Nine of the 96 recruited by 24 participating squads are Grand Masters Eugene Torre (Rizal), Joey Antonio (Iloilo), Julio Catalino Sadorra (Manila), Mark Paragua (Camarines), John Paul Gomez (Cabuyao), Darwin Laylo (Pasig) , Banjo. Barcenilla (Cabuyao), Oliver Barbosa (San Juan) and Roland Salvador (Pasig).

Mitra firmly believes that his team will make a lasting impression.

“We know that the Queen always has the last word,” he said.