MANILA, 7 November 2003 - This could well be a big boost for the Philippine team’s gold medal chances in the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar.
A statement issued by the Doha Asian Games Organizing Committee (DAGOC) confirms the host’s approval of the inclusion of chess and triathlon in the Asiad’s calendar of events.
It was stated that about 403 events in 33 different disciplines would be organized during the Asian Games, chess and triathlon are being included for the first time in the 15th edition of the quadrennial event set Dec. 1-15 in Qatar.
The Philippines is a noted chess power in the region.
The Filipinos won the Asian team crown in 1997 on a team anchored by GM Joey Antonio and IM Nelson Mariano II with IM Ronald Dableo ruling the Asian Zonals this year. Others expected to carry the cudgels for the RP chess squad are GMs Eugene Torre, Asia’s first GM, and Bong Villamayor.
Earlier, former FIDE president Florencio Campomanes said there are growing clamors in the international chess circle in introducing the sport in the next Olympics.
“It is an initial step in making the sport a regular fare in all the Olympics,” said Campomanes, who added he is working on along with various chess leaders around the world to make it a reality.
Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) President Qatari Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, on the other hand, sent Campomanes a letter last year confirming the decision by host Qatar of including chess as one of the 38 events in the Asian Games tentatively set from Dec. 2-12, 2006.
“Our dream, actually, is for chess to be included in the Olympics. I’m now working on it, getting in touch with my connection in the world chess scene, so that IOC (International Olympic Committee) will be convinced to include chess in its future Games,” said Campomanes.
The 52-year-old Torre, Asia’s first grandmaster, has vowed to keep on playing and carry the country’s colors.
“I will continue to play until younger players are capable of taking over,” said Torre, “but it does not mean that we will send them just because they are young. They have to prove themselves that they can replace us.”
Torre, for three decades the country’s top woodpusher, said he would only entertain retirement the moment he fails to win local competitions - consistently.
For the record, Torre has played on the top board in the Chess Olympiad since 1972, the longest record of any grandmaster in the biennial competition which drew 141 nations. It marked the 16th time since 1970 that Torre played on Board One for the country in the Olympiad.
He has won three silver medals while playing as the national team’s anchor.
Torre won silver medal in the 1974 Nice Olympiad and bronze medals in the 1980 Malta Olympiad and 1986 Dubai Olympiad.
He made history by becoming Asia’s first chess 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. Torre defeated world chess champion Anatoly Karpov in an exhibition game, dubbed The Marlboro-Loyola Kings Challenge, in Manila in 1976.
The 42-year-old Antonio, is currently the country’s highest-rated player with an ELO rating of 2522.
The sensational 18-year-old Paragua, who is easily the country’s most promising chess player today, is confident the GM norm is “within his reach”.
As a matter of fact, he is giving himself a year to become the country’s fifth grandmaster.
But this early, his coaches are predicting the young woodpusher could even break the Super Grandmaster barrier in two years.
Paragua, who at 15 became the country’s youngest international master, had moved four points shy from his Grandmaster dream last year. After a strong fifth-place finish in last year’s World Youth Chess Championships held in Crete, Greece, Paragua earned additional points to top his Bled Olympiad production that gained him 20 rating points.
