By Danilo P. Padua, PhD
Chess grandmaster Eugenio “Eugene” Torre, a resident of Baguio for a time, was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF) last October 5, 2022 in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA. The induction was done at the opening day of the US Chess championship where Cavite-born GM Wesley So is the defending champion. So, one of Torre’s protégés, happily assisted him.
Torre was actually nominated by the International Chess Federation, together with GM Judith Polgar of Hungary and GM Miguel Najdorf of Argentina last year. The three were described as extraordinary inductees because of their accomplishments in world chess.
Only Eugene was present during the induction ceremony as Najdorf already died in 1997 while Polgar, considered as the greatest female chessplayer of all time, will have her separate induction program later.
Here’s the WCHOF citation for Torre: “Eugene Torre (1951-)
Philippine grandmaster Eugene Torre has been a trailblazer for Asian chess for half a century, achieving a number of continental milestones including first grandmaster (1974), first to defeat a reigning world champion (Anatoly Karpov in 1976) and first to reach the Candidates stage of the World Championship (1982-1983). A member of the Philippine Olympiad team a record 23 times, Torre won three individual medals on board one (silver at Nice 1974 and bronze at Malta 1980 and Dubai 1986). He also won a bronze medal on board three at Baku 2016 at the age of 64. Torre was the official second of Bobby Fischer in his 1992 rematch with Boris Spassky.”
Torre was only the second Asian though to be inducted in the WCHOF. The first was Xie Jun, a female Chinese who became the first ever Asian world chess champion-male or female.
WCHOF started only in 2001 with the very popular former world champion and a friend of Torre, Robert Fischer, as among the first 5 inductees. So far, there are only 37 inductees in the said hall of fame. The oldest was born in 1810 while the youngest (Polgar) was born in 1976. Torre is the 5th youngest.
How inductees are chosen
Here’s how inductees are chosen, according to WCHOF: Representatives of the World Chess Federation (Fédération Internationale des Échecs, or FIDE) nominate and select new candidates for induction into the World Chess Hall of Fame. Members of the World Chess Hall of Fame are chosen for their total contribution to the sport. Players as well as others who have made an impact as authors, journalists, organizers and in other ways are eligible for induction.
To better appreciate the accolade given to Torre, consider this: Of the 37 inductees, 21 were world champions (8 Women, 13 Men). Several world champions were not in the elite group. There are already over 10,000 players from around the world who became grandmasters-meaning very strong players. To be part of the best 37 elite players is something to loudly crow about!
I can remember that there times,when Torre was practically begging for financial support days before embarking for tournaments abroad where he was representing the Philippines. He even went to the extent of selling his prized collections of chess clocks and other items just to finance his battles abroad. Yet, when he came home triumphant every politician in town took to the media to praise him, and have photo op with him! Sonofagun (to borrow the phrase (word?) of the late venerable newsman Benito Soliven).
Torre’s win over Karpov in 1976 (which is highlighted in the hall of fame citation for Torre) created a worldwide stir in the chess world. After Karpov became world champion as a result of default by the then world champion Fischer in April, 1975, he had won every tournament he had entered until he was stopped by Torre. The 1976 tourney was double round-robin and participated in by only four grandmasters: Karpov, the world champion, Ljubojevic, the European champion, Browne, the American champion, and Eugene Torre. It was done in Bauang, La Union, not in Manila as erroneously recounted now by both the international and local media.
There are other exploits and accomplishments of Torre that are worth highlighting. I hope a biographer will soon come up with a comprehensive biography of Torre. For instance, he was named in year 2000 as the Philippines’ athlete of the millennium.
I once had an opportunity to communicate with Torre for a chess simultaneous exhibition in BSU. Since he was then residing in Baguio with his family, I asked him to be the player to play the exhibition involving 15-20 players from BSU. He suggested instead, International master Ricky De Guzman as the Philippine team to the chess Olympiad was training in Baguio at that time. I got a good laugh when Torre called the BSU president’s office asking for me. The office who got the call, and know him by name as he plays chess, can’t believe it. “Are you really GM Torre?” was the incredulous query.
Long story short, we had our only simultaneous chess exhibition in BSU so far by a master (IM Ricky De Guzman), participated in by 20 faculty and staff plus some of my varsity student chess players then. I will not tell that he wiped us all!
Side note: Marilin, the wife of GM Torre, established a bakeshop along Abanao road when they were still in Baguio. It was aptly called Grandmaster bakeshop. It is long gone though.
By the way, there are only a handful of Philippine sports heroes inducted in some World Halls of Fame, particularly in Billiards (4, headed by Efren Reyes-considered by international players and fans alike as the greatest billiards player ever), Boxing (3, headed by Flash Elorde), and Bowling (3, headed by Paeng Nepomuceno-the only player ever to become world bowling champion in 4 different decades). **
