By Danilo P. Padua, PhD
The title does not refer to the claim that as they age, men are like wine that become smoother and better. Nor does it touch on anything akin to it. It is not also referring to the new law that when hiring new employees, age should not be a discriminatory criterium. It is not also about the current practice in Japan, where retirees are being recycled/rehired for jobs because they are still very productive.
It refers to the game of chess as a sport. It is played by anybody from a toddler to a centenarian. A very young guy could beat a grizzled veteran and an aged man could beat a sprightly young man. That really is the game of chess.
In the last World Chess Olympiad-the Olympics of chess-held in Baku, Azerbaijan this September, 2016, age doesn’t matter was in full display. Most of the participants are in their spring age but there are others who are now in the last phase of their journey here on earth. One of those belonging to the latter was Asia’s first chess grandmaster, Eugene Torre who is already 64 years of age. A senior citizen, chronology old.
When Torre became a grandmaster in 1974, he was 22 years young but was, at that time, the youngest among the active grandmasters. Compare that to today’s many top players who have gained their grandmaster title at the tender ages of 12-16 years! Wesley So, the top Philippine Player before jumping ship about four years ago, gained his title when he was about 14 years old. He was the seventh youngest player in the world to have acquired it. He is currently in the top echelon of the world’s elite chess players, being number 7 at the moment. He is now representing the U.S. chess Federation. While he is professing that he is a Filipino, he will soon get his U.S. citizenship.
Torre was also considered as an elite player during his prime, qualified as a candidate for the selection of the world chess championship and had beaten some of the best players in the world including then reigning world champion, Anatoly Karpov. Many said that he is already “laos”, but he made some people eat their words. He cemented his place among the chess immortals by scoring 10 out of a possible 11 points. This is huge. It could be likened to a magnitude 7 earthquake. He literally rocked the event. Why, many of his opponents were less than half his age!
His tourney was magical. He played all eleven rounds. No rest for him, unlike all his much younger team mates. He contributed immensely to the Philippine team output. His run is almost unheard of for somebody his age in a top caliber competition like the Olympiad. Because of this feat, many chess historians and leading chess players were added to those who call him a legend.
Eugene has shown that even senior citizens could have a special niche under the sun. He played board 3 for the Philippine team and bagged the bronze medal out of at least 170 players. If the basis of selection is number of wins or percentage of wins, he would have won the gold, hands down. He was happy though that the gold winner was Wesley So, his protégé. Just like in the Rio Olympics, a bronze in the chess Olympiad is a coveted one. As far as I can remember, no one in his 60s had ever won any medal in any board of the event.
Torre’s triumph did not go unnoticed by the local sports officials. He was given a bonus of 100k. Not much for his stature but the more important thing there is the recognition given to such feat. But wait, the recognition was not bestowed by the officialdom of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (where is NCFP?) but by the Philippine Sports Commission.
GM Torre’s chess skills had always been acknowledged even by the arguably greatest chess player of all time, Bobby Fischer. The former world champion had engaged Torre’s services as a second during his return match with another world champion, Boris Spassky. In chess, a second is one who assists a player in his/her preparations for games in tournaments or matches.
Incidentally, Torre and his family lived in Baguio for some years and even had a bakeshop obviously called Grandmaster along Abanao street.
The Baku Chess Olympiad also produced the first woman chess grandmaster of the country, Janelle Mae Frayna who is from Albay. She too was recognized by PSC (but where is again NCFP?). Frayna actually scored a double grandmaster norm in the tournament.
Considered another notable feat is the draw obtained by our top board player, GM C. Sadorra against the most feared player and the reigning world champion, GM Magnus Carlsen. His game with the champion was intently watched by so many chess players and officials including the daughter of the president of Azerbaijan. His feat also merited a lot of kudos from analysts and players alike.
Unfortunately, the feats of the above players were not enough to lift the Philippine team to a more respectable finish. It shows, however, that despite the luckluster attention (if there ever was), given by the NCFP, our team acquitted themselves in the biggest world arena of chess. What is needed is a better crop of chess officials who will do their tasks and serve well.
I would hasten to say here that chess should really be a sport that must be given due attention in the Cordillera or elsewhere in the country. Just like in China, India and Vietnam, among others. It could be our saving grace in world sport.
In chess, age does not really matter. It matters though when an octogenarian official is still insisting on being voted as the top Olympic official of the country but our performance in the world sporting stage continually and embarrassingly slipped during his 8-year reign. If I were that official I would melt in the prying eyes of the public. **
