Where's our youth?

With financial difficulties that is plaguing the NCFP recently, a non profit organization, and the devastation caused by successive typhoons that crippled the economy, this may probably explain everything why the Philippines won't be sending a delegation for this years World Youth Chess Championship in Turkey that will begin this November 11. But for those who knew well the chess in the country, they know that there must be a deeper reason. There was this commotion between the NCFP and the players who are yet to received their prize fund after the PGMA and Pichay Cup, and then the strange momentarily disappearance or not inclusion of the Philippines in FIDE database (not for technical reasons) and according to an insider, the Philippines supposedly be sending 8, not 4 players in Asian Indoor Games but PSC (Philippine Sports Commission) can only spare 4 tickets to Vietnam. GM Jayson Gonzales and IM Rolando Nolte were originally assigned to look after our Turkey bound youth players but decided to back out to make themselves available for the Asian Indoor Games. They didn't made it, as we know.

So there you have folks. Wesley So skipped the World Junior last October and now we're skipping the most important chess tournament for the youth. I guess we're back on the drawing board again after a minor surge...

I would like to send my deepest appreciation to our readers for notifying us with this development every now and then. Please continue sending us information we may or might have missed.