ILOILO City – An Ilonggo pocketed a gold medal in chess in the just concluded University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 84 held from June 1 to 15, 2022.
Sophomore Engineering student of De La Salle University Cyril Felrod Telesforo bested rivals to secure a total score of 8.5 after a 10-round double round robin system format – the highest score all competitors from different UAAP participating schools.
Listed in Board 4 but played in Board 2, Cyril was also the only unbeaten player in the entire UAAP Season 84 face-to-face chess competition hosted by Far Eastern University (FEU) Sampaloc, Manila.
He could have possibly been awarded a tournament’s Rookie MVP had his school landed in the Top 3.
Last year’s UAAP Season 83 was cancelled due to pandemic.
Telesforo is a multi-awarded Ilonggo woodpusher. He has been a consistent Palarong Pambansa player since his elementary years up to his high school days.
Also, he used to be a member of the Philippine Chess Team.
Because of his exploits in chess, at the age of 18, the National Chess Federation of the Philippines, the recognized National Sports Association in chess, awarded him a rank of a National Master. He is the youngest Ilonggo chess master to date.
An alumnus of Central Philippine University (CPU), Telesforo came from San Joaquin, Iloilo where he started playing chess. He has a younger sister who is also a chess player currently studying as a varsity scholar at CPU. Like him, his sister has also received offers from several universities in Manila.
Cyril Felrod Telesforo has Ilonggo teammates at DLSU namely, Diomel Escutin of Bo. Obrero, Iloilo City and Kris Oswald Olvido of San Dionisio, Iloilo.
Iloilo is a known bastion of chess, having produced Asia’s first Grand Master in Eugene Torre./PN
