MANILA, 30 November — Eugene Torre, who holds the distinction as Asia’s first chess grandmaster, is following where his heart is.
The legendary Filipino chess player is stepping down as president of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) to concentrate more on playing the game closest to his heart.
He is passing on the mantle of leadership of the NCFP — the sole governing body of chess in the country — to focus more on his preparations as a member of the national pool.
His move is seen by many as timely since chess is now a medal sport in the next edition of the Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) in Vietnam in 2003. With Torre playing full time and helping in the training of the national pool, the Philippines will have a good chance of winning six gold medals each in the men’s and women’s divisions.
“I’m leaving my post (as NCFP president), but I will always follow its progress with interest, and support them all the way,” said Torre, who made a stirring appeal to the government for “greater support” to boost the country’s chess training program.
Living legend
Torre is considered as a living legend in the age-old sport, and still supreme in the Philippines.
He made history by becoming Asia’s first grandmaster, thanks to a stirring performance against grandmaster Robert Byrne in the 21st Chess Olympiad in Nice, France, when he was at the tender age of 22.
He came tantalizingly close to a shot at the World Chess Championship, only to see his hope crushed, initially by Hungary’s Zoltan Ribli, and years later by British grandmaster Nigel Short.
The World Chess Championship was once held in the Philippines, at the Baguio City Convention Center in Mountain Province, in the Philippines, in 1978.
Torre has played as captain of numerous national teams to the prestigious Chess Olympiad, including the one, which finished seventh in Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1988.
He defeated world chess champion Anatoly Karpov in an exhibition game, dubbed The Marlboro-Loyola Kings Challenge, in Manila in 1976. This year, Torre won the title in the Philippine Chess Championship in grand style showing that he hasn’t lost his talent to age yet. He first won this championship in 1970, which was 31 years ago.
Timely move
His resignation came at a time when Cristine Rose Mariano and Chito Garma had also quit their posts as secretary-general and auditor, respectively, to also concentrate on their preparations as members of the national pool.
Their resignations also came one year after the NCFP became the sole governing body of chess in the Philippines, a privilege once held by the controversy-rich Philippine Chess Federation for some 44 years.
Actually, it was Bobby Ang who was the first to leave the scene early this year following the not-so-successful staging of the National Age Group Championships.
The country’s fourth and newest grandmaster, Bong Villamayor, also relinquished his position as the Internal Vice President since he could no longer handle his responsibilities after accepting the job of coach in Singapore upon the invitation of Zone official Ignatius Leong.
The NCFP has been experiencing financial difficulties in the last half of the year.
“We should join hands to promote chess in this part of the country as it is in this sport that we can excel, otherwise, we will be left behind,” said Torre, the top Filipino chess player for almost 30 years now.
He urged chess players to promote and develop the sport in the country.
At the same time, Torre urged the NCFP officials to focus on the age-group development, especially the girls.
Adrianne Caoili, currently the country’s top female chess player, is expected to blossom into a strong player due to her exposure in several international tournaments, including the Olympiad.
In fact, the 13-year-old Caoili has already surpassed former national women’s champion Cristine Rose Mariano-De Jesus in terms of achievements and popularity last year. He said that the chess-hungry country is rich in local talent who, given enough support from the government as well as private sectors, could excel in this sport in the world stage.
Torre pointed out, despite the lack of a subsidized training program, the 10 young Filipino players who competed in the recent World Youth Championships in Spain fared better as a whole than those from Russia, China or India, the leading chess-playing countries today.
It was Torre, along with fellow grandmasters Joey Antonio and Villamayor, who conceived the formation of NCFP in an effort to unite Filipino woodpushers to tackle the state of Philippine chess and put the sport in the right direction. They led all titled Filipino players in discussing matters involved in the directions that Philippine chess has taken and formulated measures to be undertaken to rationalize present conditions.
Torre replaced Art Borjal after the group of chess players formed the NCFP in a bid to seek reforms within the local chess scene.
That’s how the idea of forming the NCFP — an effective and stable federation that would truly reflect the needs of its constituents, the chess players themselves — came about.
In an unprecedented move, Filipino chess players led by Torre, Antonio and Villamayor, formed the NCFP to oust the moribund Philippine Chess Federation.
In August, the FIDE board reacted favorably to recognize the NCFP as the new federation in this country.
Call for unity
It was no coincidence that Torre was chosen as the founding president of the NCFP since he’s acknowledged to be the most credible person to unite the Philippine chess community.
The new era ushered by the NCFP is a unique opportunity for chess supporters to unite and aid in improving the chess situation in the Philippines.
The country has a strong tradition of chess, and its players have helped in building chess practice in developing countries.
The NCFP believes that it’s high time to focus on its own resources so that the Filipino player can excel now that a federation truly concern of its people have been founded.
Among the chess players highly expected to become the country’s next grandmasters are International Masters Rogelio Barcenilla, Nelson Mariano, Ronald Bancod and Mark Paragua. Barcenilla was earlier reported to have already earned his grandmaster norm on the strength of his strong showing in the United States. But during the Olympiad Congress in Turkey, FIDE refused to grant grandmaster status to Barcenilla because of the format used in the US tournaments.
Still many believe that it is only a matter of time before Barcenilla could finally achieve his lifelong dream of becoming a grandmaster.
Mariano has performed creditably in several Asian tournaments in the past while Bancod has exhibited the makings of a grandmaster with his strong performances in several international tournaments. Paragua, who topped the Scaccomatto Open in Torino, Italy, this year could become the country’s youngest grandmaster in due time.
For the record, the country had witnessed a chess boom as it managed to organize major international tournaments like the 1974 World Junior Championships; 1976 Manila Interzonal, 1978 Karpov vs. Korchnoi World Championship Match; 1987 World Junior Championships in Baguio; 1990 Manila Interzonal; 1991 Xie Jun vs. Maya Chiburdanidze World Championship Match; and the 1992 Manila Chess Olympiad.
