Gio Mejia: Finding passion in the chess pieces

Loving chess at a young age is not as common as compared to other sports. Given factors such as the culture that we have as Filipinos and the hyperactivity of other sports, most children these days would pick up sports like basketball and football rather than chess, which is a sport that is more mental than physical in nature. Its complexity and the amount of strategies involved make most kids veer towards other vocations. For Green Woodpusher Gio Mejia however, it was a different story.

At the age of seven, Mejia was introduced to chess by his father. Because of how much he was influenced by the game, it didn’t take long for him to get his sister Cherry involved, with the captain of the Lady Woodpushers even crediting Gio as the one who got her into playing chess in the first place.

After being taught by his father, Mejia started spending time further developing his skills in chess. In the past, he competed in both local and international chess tournaments and was therefore exposed to a wide variety of opponents. He added on to these experiences by reading chess books, which helped him broaden his knowledge on the game. Apart from this, he also sought matches against stronger opponents to test his skills and learn from them.

According to him, he mostly competed in various chess tournaments around Makati. Of these tournaments, one of the biggest competitions he participated in was one that featured some of the best chess players in the country.

“I faced the top rated players of our country such as GMs Eugene Torre, GM Oliver Barbosa, and GM Joey Antonio,” says Gio, who entered that tournament as a 14-year old.

Having attended highschool at La Salle Greenhills, it wasn’t a surprise that his first choice for college was DLSU. As a student-athlete, he thought La Salle would be the best choice for him because of their standards. He entered the chess team in his first year in college and made his debut back in Season 77. In his rookie season, he was able to contribute to the success of his team as the Green Woodpushers ended their 10-year drought by winning the championship that year.

Though most extracurricular activities may be demanding and time consuming, Mejia doesn’t find chess as something inconvenient. Since it is mostly a mental game, it is less taxing to his body.

“Unlike other sports, chess avoids you from getting injured and this sport is less hassle because you don’t need to train your physical strength every day,” he says.

Chess has become a big part of Mejia’s life and it helped him get to where he is today. Because of chess, he was able to travel to different countries for tournaments, while also securing a scholarship that allows him to study in the school he wanted to be in. Needless to say, he is happy with where he has ended up.