Torre aims for Subic Asian chess supremacy
abs-cbnNEWS.com 04/19/2010 8:13 PM
MANILA, Philippines – Grandmaster (GM) Eugene Torre said he is planning to return to the World Chess Cup in 2011 by setting his sights on the 2010 Asian Individual Chess Championships title.
“Target ko talaga na makapasok sa main draw ng World Chess Cup (World Chess Championships), hope maganda nawa ang performance natin dito sa Subic Asian Continental Chess,” he said.
Torre, the first GM of Asia, will compete in the qualifying event that will run from April 20 to 30 at the Subic Exhibition and Convention Center.
“Pero anuman ang maging resulta, sana may mga Filipino ang makakuha ng slots sa World Chess Cup,” added Torre.
Aside from Torre, other Filipinos who will aim to secure World Chess Cup slots in the Subic tilt are GMs Wesley So, Rogelio “Joey” Antonio, Jr., Jayson Gonzales and Darwin Laylo.
A total of 60 players, including 12 from India and19 from China, confirmed their participation. At stake is $6,000 for the men’s division champion.
Some of the foreigners entered in the event are GMs Ni Hua, Zhou Jianchao and Li Chao of China; Krishan Sasikiran and Pentala Harikrishna of India; Le Quang Liem, Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son and Dao Thien Hai of Vietnam; Anton Fillipov and Khamrakulov Djubarek of Uzbekistan; Susanto Megaranto of Indonesia; and Zhang Zhong of Singapore.
“We have very good records in the Asian Individual Championships, so I expect our players to continue the trend,” said Prospero “Butch” Pichay, Jr., the president and chairman of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP).
According to Pichay, he plans to host as many as 5 international tournaments this year to give Filipino chess players the much-needed exposure to foreign chessers. – by Marlon Bernardino
Source: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com
great! I’d be interested to see how well he still plays. He was fun in his time…perhaps this is still his time.
Mike Magnan