Torre still towers over local chess
By Marlon Bernardino | Posted on September 16, 2012 | 12:01am
The future undoubtedly belongs to chess grandmaster Wesley So the highest rated player in the Philippines. But the present still belongs to the team’s oldest player Eugene Torre.
The 60-year-old Torre remains a tower looming over local chess.
Born November 4, 1951 Torre appeared in a record-setting 21st Olympiad when he joined the Philippine team to the 40th FIDE World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey.
Coincidentally, the Philippines placed 21st to improve from its woeful standing of 50th place two years ago. In the process, the country won third place in Group B of the competition.
“That is the beauty of chess. If you keep yourself fit and healthy you can play competitive chess for a long, long time. It also shows the resilience and tenacity of Filipinos. I’m proud to hold the record of playing in the most number of chess Olympiads as a member of the Philippine chess team,” said Torre.
Still considered the greatest chess grandmaster the Philippines has ever produced, Torre was born in Iloilo City. In 1974, the young Torre became Asia’s first grandmaster when he won the silver medal in Board 1 during the World Chess Olympiad in Nice, France.
Among his most notable achievements was a victory over then reigning world chess champion Anatoly Karpov in a 1976 tournament in Manila in a classic game that has become part of Philippine chess lore.
In Istanbul for a while the Philippine team was on track to its finest showing in chess olympiad history. But losses of Torre and Mark Paragua, in a pair of slam-bang final round matches scuttled the hopes of the 35th-seeded Philippines.
The Filipino chessers bowed to 25th-seeded Romania, 1-3, to finish in 21st place at the conclusion of the tournament at the WOW Convention Center in Istanbul, Turkey.
GM Torre, bowed to GM Levente Vajda on Board 3 after 36 moves of Scotch Potter Variation duel.
GM Paragua, on the other hand, yielded to GM Vladislav Nevednichy on Board 4 after 40 moves of Pseudo-King’s Indian skirmish.
Undefeated Filipino GM Wesley So split the point with GM Constantin Lupulescu on Board 1 after 47 moves of Slav defense, while GM Oliver Barbosa also halved the point with GM Mircea-Emilian Parligras on Board 2 after 39 moves of a Queen’s Indian defense.
With their loss in the final round, the gritty Filipino chessers were stuck at 14 points, good for a share of 19th to 33rd place.
“We lost to Romania, but I’m still proud of the boys. We fought the best team who later became champions (Armenia). A tie for 19th place and over-all 21st place was not bad after all. This was my prediction before the start of the Istanbul Chess Olympiad,” said National Chess Federation of the Philippines chairman and president Prospero “Butch” Pichay Jr.
The Filipinos earned some consolation with the bronze medal in Group B, behind Sweden and Denmark.
The Philippine chessers however were unable to surpass their best-ever finish of seventh place in the 1988 edition of the tournament.
“We have a young team and we will be better in the next Olympiad,” Pichay said.
Armenia and Russia finished tied at the top of the leaderboard with 19 points, but Armenia won the gold by virtue of having the better tie-break points. Ukraine (18 points) finished with bronze.
Russia’s women’s team finished with 19 points to win the gold, followed by China and Ukraine.
Torre and the Philippines shared their finest moment when the Philippine chessers smashed England 3-1 behind wins by GMs Barbosa and Torre on boards two and three respectively.
GM Torre delivered the goods with a fine victory over former PCA World Championship contender GM Nigel Short in 41 moves of their Nimzo Indian encounter. He showed the Filipino chess fans back home how to win an endgame with two knights opposite the dreaded two bishops. Torre’s two knights proved superior forcing GM Short to resign the game with either one of his bishops about to be captured without a tradeoff.
GM Oliver Barbosa bounced back from a loss the previous round with a 102-mover game against GM Gawain Jones on Board 2 in a King’s Indian defense struggle. Another fine endgame lesson here demonstrated by GM Barbosa against the nice play by GM Jones who hoped to hack out a draw despite being two pawns down. In the end checkmate was inevitable.
GM Wesley So was held to a draw on Board 1 opposite Super GM Michael Adams in a Caro-Kann game. GM Mark Paragua also halved the point against GM Nicholas Pert.
Source: http://manilastandardtoday.com
Fantastic!