Philippine Chess related trivias.
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Narita Airport on Jul. 13, 2004: While waiting to board a flight to Manila, Bob Fischer was arrested with no valid passport and a scuffle ensued. Filipino GM Eugene Torre asked Bob about his damaged teeth, "I haven't checked properly coz like Muhamad Ali…I don't look so handsome anymore". Bob was quoted.
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1978 Buenos Aires Chess Olympiad: Vic Torre (brother of GM Eugene Torre) played in board 1 for the Philippines in the 1st round and won versus Andorran player. Ricardo De Guzman on board 2 and won. Board 3 and 4 defaulted by Philippines due to late arrival in Argentina. GM Torre, Rodriguez, Mascarinas, Bordonada (once dubbed as Philippines' strongest contingent in Olympiad) suited after 2nd round.
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In 2000, Fischer traveled to the Philippines and stayed with Philippine GM Eugene Torre. Fischer may have married his girlfriend, Justine Ong. She was 22 year-old and a Chinese-Filipino. They have one daughter, Jinky Ong Fischer, born in 2000 in Baguio City.
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Famous Victims of GM Eugene Torre: Karpov, Short, Topalov, Rossolimo, Ribli, Anand, Byrne, Hort, Polugaevsky, Ljubojevic, Najdorf, Larsen, Reshevsky, Rogers, Quinteros, Sax, Portisch, Lobron, Timman, Miles, Geller, Seirawan, Jussupow, Beliavsky, Korchnoi, Judith Polgar, Kamsky, Lputian, Gufeld, Adianto, Sokolov, Ehlvest, Gheorghiu, Tukmakov, Pinter, Matanovic, Hartston, Schmid, Soltis, Pilnik, Denker, Kavalek, Pachman, Sosonko, Keene, Furman, Ghitescu, Ivanovic, Chandler, Farago, Bronstein, Jansa, Chiburdanidze, Antoshin, Vogt, Ftacnik, Zaitsev.
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2000 Istanbul Chess Olympiad: Philippines was scheduled to play against Spain in the afternoon. GM Eugene Torre wanted to take a break and GM Rogelio Antonio agreed to play top board for that day. After breakfast, Eugene went out for a stroll and bumped into GM Alexei Shirov, who approached him and offered a draw. Eugene said sorry but he was not playing that day. Well, that afternoon the Latvian-turned-Spaniard Shirov blew away GM Antonio on board 1.
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Conflict Philippine Chess Federation (PCF) and the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) federations sent teams to participate in Istanbul (by coincidence they were on the same flight and arrived at Istanbul airport simultaneously): The PCF sent IM Rogelio Barcenilla, IM Petronio Roca, IM Richard Bitoon, IM Enrique Paciencia, Jayson Gonzales and Rolly Martinez. The NCFP had GM Eugene Torre, GM Joey Antonio, GM Bong Villamayor, IM Barlo Nadera, Idel Datu and IM Ronald Bancod. The Olympiad organizing committee recognized the “Torre Team”.
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The 6-foot-tall Bobby Fischer used to consume large servings of Filipino food and adored sinigang (a popular soup broth) when he lived in the Philippines for almost two years, said Marilyn Torre, wife of Filipino Grandmaster Eugene Torre. She said Fischer used to consume five balut (boiled duck eggs) in one sitting every day, years before he decided to stay in Baguio. Fischer asked Marilyn to bring him 50 such eggs when she went to Yugoslavia with her husband for Fischer’s rematch with Spassky. GM Eugene Torre served as Fischer's second in the match. She added, "When he showered, he didn't use any shampoo. He preferred to wash with just water and soap. He brushed his teeth without toothpaste.
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1975 Marlboro GM Classic: Florencio Campomanes said in his television program after the tournament in a half-jesting, half-serious tone: "You're still lucky Lev, there were only two Filipinos in the tournament." Campomanes was referring to GM Lev Polugaevsky's two losses against GM Eugene Torre and IM Rosendo Balinas. Campomanes said this in the presence of Polugaevsky and several other grandmaster participants.
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Philippines' boxing pride Manny Pacquiao and billiard's legend Efren "Bata" Reyes are chess players. In the 2007 Asian Individual Chess Championship held in Cebu Philippines, RP's GM Rogelio Antonio was sponsored by boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao. Business tycoons Lucio Tan and Henry Sy, whenever they have time, are playing chess.
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1998 Elista Chess Olympiad: During one of their breaks, Filipino Grandmasters Eugenio Torre and Rogelio Antonio went to the wet market to buy some food stuffs, and while they were asking for the price of a cut of beef, a seller did a sudden double-take and asked in awed tones: "Aren't you Grandmaster Torre from the Philippines?" Imagine that, at a meat stall in a far corner of the world, and the vendor recognized Torre!
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Filipino GM Rogelio Antonio was a former chess addict, learned chess from his cousin at age 13, survived the separation of his parents, and once worked in a carton factory. In 1983, he hustled with odds in Luneta Chess Plaza and earned 50-75 pesos daily. His favorite player is Anatoly Karpov, studied photo-copied Chess Informants and Karpov's books "Chess is My Life" and "Karpov's Selected Games" by Kevin O'Connell.
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Believe it or not! Filipino Florencio Campomanes was the only FIDE President to draw a salary from FIDE funds.
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Philippines' chess icon Florencio Campomanes has 5 sons, all named Florencio Campomanes, with the numerals, I to V attached to their names. He also has two daughters named Florencia and Florence. Campomanes has visited 126 countries on his 53 years of chess life. He will turn 83 on Feb. 22, 2010.
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During Florencio Campomanes' term as FIDE President (1982-1995), ELO ratings were exposed to inflation. To promote women's chess, Campomanes gave all women who played in international competition an extra 200 points.
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Florencio Campomanes, Philippines’ chess pioneer and former President of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), was Bobby Fischer’s original Filipino friend. They met in New York in the mid-1950s when Fischer was emerging as a chess phenom barely into his teens and Campomanes was shuttling between New York and Washington D.C. while working for the State Department. "I doubt very much if he remembered the first time we met. He was very young, maybe 10 or 11." Campomanes recalled. He said he was visiting the Brooklyn Chess Club where someone pointed to him a very promising but very nondescript boy named Robert Fischer.
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According to GM Larry Evans, in 1982, Florencio Campomanes won the presidency of FIDE and gained a second term at Dubai in 1986 by sending free tickets for the Olympiad held in the United Arab Emirates to teams from selected nations. Evans said: "When Israel was barred from this Olympiad, grateful Arab sheikhs told reporters they spent over a million dollars to re-elect Campomanes. These were his supporters who openly boasting about how they bought the election."
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During 2000 Istanbul Chess Olympiad, Florencio Campomanes confided to Bobby Ang that he is even prouder to become one of the first Philippine National Masters than when he was elected FIDE President.
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Florencio Campomanes, then the chess editor of the Manila Times, approached his editors for sponsorship of the Philippine national team to the 1956 Moscow Chess Olympiad. This was disapproved since Moscow was the capital of Communist Soviet Union, and the paper found it inconceivable to even think of sending someone to "hell". He then approached the rival newspaper, Manila Chronicle, with the same proposition and this time the request was granted. Campomanes then crossed the bridge and started working for Manila Chronicle.
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Game 5 Korchnoi-Karpov WCM Baguio 1978: When the game ended in a draw in 124th move, according to eye-witnesses, Viktor Baturinsky (for many years the czar of Soviet chess) exchanged kisses with Florencio Campomanes in front of everyone!
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1960 Leipzig Chess Olympiad: Filipino Florencio Campomanes was to play Russia's Mikhail Tal, newly-crowned world champion on opening day. Photographers were all over the stage as Campomanes and Tal exchanged moves. "I got rattled by the flood of flash bulbs, and in my irritation, I stood up, pulled out my Mimox pocket camera and took a shot of all the guys taking shots at us." Campomanes resigned on the 27th move. "Tal was very happy with the victory because he had dedicated the game to his newly-born son." recalled Campomanes.
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In 2003, Florencio Campomanes, former President of FIDE and mastermind of the idea of the Manila Olympiad, was convicted of graft and sentenced to nearly 2 years in jail in Manila. But due to appeals and his advanced age (76) he had never actually been put behind the bars. The court ruled that he failed to account for government funds of $238,745 entrusted to him to run the Olympiad hosted by the Marcos regime.
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Florencio Campomanes is the first non-European elected FIDE President. He played board 2 for the Philippines in the 1956 Olympiad in Moscow, the 1958 Olympiad in Munich, and was the top board for the Philippines in the 1960 Chess Olympiad. When he was elected FIDE President in 1982, the entire FIDE staff and FIDE secretary resigned in protest.
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1990 Novi Sad Chess Olympiad: The FIDE President Florencio Campomanes retained his presidency at FIDE congress in Novi Sad. Yet with weeks to the Olympic gong he barely escaped death as he had a car crash and the president of the Uganda Chess Federation sitting next to him was killed. Because of neck injury he was wearing a plaster cast during the Olympiad.
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When Fischer owed Campomanes $3,000. Campomanes said he had given up hope of collecting the money, but he got the surprise of his life when he received the payment a quarter of a century later. ‘‘It just goes to show that Bobby Fischer was a very honest man." Campomanes said.
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In 1987, Dr. Ricardo Calvo of Spain, a close friend of world champion Garry Kasparov, was declared "persona non grata" by FIDE (in lieu of a proposed 5-year ban) for a letter he wrote to Timman's magazine New In Chess about the buying of votes by Campomanes in the 1986 presidential campaign. Canadian delegate Nathan Divinsky argued in vain that FIDE exceeded its authority by stepping into the 65th square to punish players for what they write and think. FIDE reversed its vote several years later.
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1990 Manila Interzonal Tournament: During introduction, after Gurevich name was announced by Campomanes, Mihai Marin thought that he was the only Mihail left. Indeed, he stood up instantly, and Campomanes explained with a smile: "No, Tal!" Later, when his name was announced, Marin was rewarded with the most generous applause of the evening!
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"We might as well have penguins and polar bears playing chess." GM Harry Golombek on Campomanes (Philippines) and Hasan (Indonesia) lobbying for another FIDE zones in Far East and Oceana in 1960's.
"I will put up a Philippine team to beat England one day." Campomanes howled after British GM Golombek unleashed a snide remark against Campomanes and Hasan. True to Campomanes' words, Philippines brought back to Earth the boisterous England team in the 1968 Lugano Chess Olympiad 2.5-1.5.
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The Philippine Sportswriters Association of the Philippines has bestowed on Grandmaster Eugenio Torre the title Athlete of the Millennium. Take note: not for a year, not for a decade, neither is it for a century, it is for a thousand years!
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When Bobby Fischer revisited Philippines in 1974 to open the Marlboro Classic Grandmaster Tournament, he asked about Rosendo Balinas and was told that he was semi-retired because he was reviewing for the bar examinations. Fischer remarked that he had been impressed with Balinas talent and Fischer said, "I hope he gets back!" Balinas finally got his GM title in 1976.
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University of the Philippines Cum Laude graduate and former FIDE President Florencio Campomanes invented and popularized "Campo-Kann" Defense (…c6 and…e6 against any white formation).
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Torre Attack (1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bg5) was popularized by originator Mexican Carlos Torre. The Torre Attack has been regularly used by his namesake Philippines GM Eugenio Torre.
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GM Rosendo Balinas of the Philippines was Asia's best player in 1960's. He was six times Philippine champion and won USSR (Odessa) in 1976. It was the time that a foreigner won in Russian soil. The first time was Capablanca. Balinas stands 5'2" and was a lawyer. He died of liver cancer in 1998.
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Argentine GM Miguel Quinteros is married to a former model from the Philippines that he met at the 1973 Manila Interzonal. In 1979, he missed Round 1 of the Atlantic Open in Washington D.C. because he thought the tournament was in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
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Sometime in the 1970's, Anand who was then not yet 10 year-old, came to the Philippines with his father who had accepted a job as a consultant in the Philippine National Railways. Anand finally stayed in the Philippines for several years during which time Anand became fanatic in chess. His first coach was the late Filipino National Master Victor Cabrido.
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1975 Manila's Marlboro Chess Classic Tournament: IM Rosendo Balinas of the Philippines had a winning position against Yugoslav GM Svetozar Gligoric when suddenly Gligoric accepted a draw which Balinas claimed he never offered. Afterwards, exchange of harsh words erupted and led to famous incident when GM Polugaevsky berated Balinas for lack of respect for the GMs.
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Philippines' National Hero Jose Rizal lost a chess game against Manuel Luz because he was distracted by the beautiful Segunda Katigbak who always threw a glance at him to lose his concentration. When chess connoisseur Jose Rizal left Philippines for Spain, he boarded the Salvadora using a passport of Jose Mercado. He played chess with the passengers on board.
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A tournament was held at a restaurant in Paranaque Philippines. In board 10, both players are in panic time punching their clock strongly. The player in white color makes an illegal move. His opponent, because of confusion, instead of calling an Arbiter shouted…"Waiter!"
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1974 Nice Chess Olympiad: Philippines' Eugenio Torre needs a draw against GM Robert Byrne to gain the title of First Asian Grandmaster. After exchange of minor pieces, Torre offered Byrne a draw. The American stands up to consult team captain GM Pal Benko. Byrne came back to his seat and pondered for few minutes and then extended his hand to congratulate the First Asian Grandmaster (home of 3 billion people)!!!
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"We are the Russians of Asian Chess." Philippine Chess Federation President Federico Moreno was quoted after Philippines won the 3rd consecutive Asian Chess Team Championship in the 70's.
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Philippines' Andronico Yap: This shoeshine boy turned chess expert was hired as a board hanger during the 1979 Marlboro Tournament, but when Rico Mascarinas failed to return on time, Yap, being the strongest player amongst the tournament staff, was asked to step in. Yap shocked the non-believers when he crushed top-rated GM Josif Dorfman (the Soviet chess champion) and went on to score five more wins and a draw before the final round.
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2000 Istanbul Chess Olympiad: On the eve of important last round match versus Latvia, Philippines' IM Idelfonso Datu was stricken with an ulcer attack and was immobilized the whole night. Since the pairings had already been submitted, it was either drag him to the playing hall or forfeit the game. Philippines' Board 6 Ronald Bancod half-carried him to the tournament venue and sat him opposite IM Meijers on Board 4. Although very pale and in cold sweat, Datu massacred the Latvian…really an inspiring sight to behold!!!
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1992 Manila Chess Olympiad: Philippines, the home nation did not put their entire strongest player in "A" team. Two strong IM were seeking for their GM norms as members of "B" and "C" teams. Those were IM Rico Mascariñas and IM Ruben Rodriguez respectively. Unfortunately they both failed.
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RP Chess Team to the 2000 Istanbul Olympiad had to leave one week earlier than scheduled because of the threat of a TRO to keep them in the Philippines. While in Turkey they ran out of money and for their meals had to subsist on a diet of the free bread on the restaurant tables which is customary in European countries.
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In the Philippines, everybody has heard of Heber Bartolome and his group "Banyuhay". They used to perform at the Chess Center in Timog Avenue every Friday. Did anyone know that when he was a struggling musician in Olongapo he used to hustle in a street corner to help make ends meet?
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When Philippines' 7th President Ramon Magsaysay died in a plane crash, the only survivor was Nestor Mata who happened to be a chess player and one of the founders of Philippine Artists Chess Organization.
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The Pepsi-Cola Company offered to pay $120,000 for the rights to put the words Pepsi on all the dark squares of the demonstration board used in the 1978 Karpov-Korchnoi match in the Philippines. The organizers refused the offer.
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Do you know that Vishy Anand likes "ukay-ukay" (used clothing for sale)? He loves to visit Divisoria in the Philippines during his younger days. He has the shortest loss as a GM, a 6-mover versus GM Zapata in 1988.
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Rodolfo Tan Cardoso was the 1st IM of the Philippines. He beat David Bronstein in the 1958 Portoroz Interzonal and Bronstein did not qualify for the World Championship and Fischer did it.
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GM Florin Gheorghiu won the Philippines (Manila) Open in 1970 with 11/11, beating Bobby Fischer's record of 10.5/11 a year earlier.
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Cardoso-Fischer 1957 Match in New York: Carlos P. Romulo, Ambassador from the Philippines and Secretary-General of the United Nations, made the first move of a Sicilian Opening of his young countryman. Cardoso resigned on the 31st move.
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1978 Buenos Aires Chess Olympiad: In the last round, New Zealand's Ortvin Sarapu had his plane ticket booked and may miss his flight. He agreed a draw in a winning position versus Philippines' GM Eugenio Torre.
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2007 Asian Chess Championship in Cebu City Philippines: Filipino IM Darwin Laylo with white pieces needs a draw to obtain his third and last GM norm. He offered Chinese GM Zhao Jun (ELO 2558) a draw after 4 moves of Slav Opening but his opponent declined. Later, GM Jun accepted the truce on the 8th move because IM Laylo played solidly with white. IM Laylo eventually obtained his GM title and became the Philippines' 7th Grandmaster.
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In 1975, former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos offered $5 million to hold the FIDE title match of Fischer and Karpov in the Philippines but Fischer would not budge as a so-called "matter of principle".
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GM Eduard Gufeld once conducted a 20-man simul exhibition at a cheap cost of $4 per head in the Philippines. He said, "Do not tell to other GMs because they will kill me." He goes on to win all games.
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Mark Paragua-Wesley So 6th Round in 2007 Philippines Pichay Cup: Paragua and So battled each other to a 'devil may care' draw. It was a delight to see that after their fiercely-fought game, they were seen happily horse-playing each other like brothers. Really if only such a scene, chess is indeed a beautiful game…
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Fischer’s certified Filipino heir, 6-year-old Jinky, was born in 2002 at the Saint Louis University Sacred Heart Hospital in Baguio City Philippines. The girl's birth certificate bears the name “Robert James Fischer” as her father, but she kept her mother's maiden name 'Young'.
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On Dec. 4, 2007, Bobby Fischer remitted 1,500 euros to his Filipina wife Marilyn and daughter through Philippine National Bank in Davao City Philippines. Marilyn claimed that the last time she and her daughter visited Fischer in Iceland was in 2005. The two spent three weeks together with the chess genius there. Fischer regularly kept contact through text messages with Marilyn in the Philippines. Marilyn received her last text message on Jan. 16, 2008, the day before Fischer died. In fact, Fischer was calling Marilyn up at around 11 p.m. the night before he died, but Marilyn left her cell phone and failed to take the call. She cries every time she remembers that incident because had she not missed the call, she could have spoken to Fischer one last time before he passed away.
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Institutionalized cheating has become so common that almost no one protests anymore. GM Larry Evans, in an article about the 1987 FIDE Congress in Dubai, wrote "The USSR was embarrassed to discover that their women's world champ Maya Chiburdanidze was rated behind Hungarian prodigy Susan Polgar. How to solve the problem? Simple. Vote to raise all women's ratings by 100 points except Polgar, who was frozen at 2495 while the Soviet star surged past her to the top of the rating list at 2530 without pushing a pawn. The rigged ratings apparently were part of a deal between the Soviets and FIDE President Florencio Campomanes of the Philippines, who desperately needed their support in a bitter re-election campaign.
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1990 Manila Interzonal Championship: Joel Lautier, who at 17 is the world's youngest grandmaster, is a hero back home. He came to the Philippines with both of his parents. Lev Polugayevsky was his second. All of their expenses were footed by his corporate sponsor in France. He commands such a following in his country that his games were faxed to France every 10 moves or so. It was a pity that he failed to make the cut.
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The Philippines has issued several chess stamps. The first was in 1962 which featured the Philippine National Hero Dr. Jose Rizal playing chess. The stamp was priced at 10 centavos.
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1998 Thessaloniki Chess Olympiad: Philippines' sixth board Ben Flores scored two wins and one loss for a 66.7% clip. He was an ex-truck driver and ex-boxer by profession!
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1999 Shenyang Asian Team Championship: When Philippines was matched against China "C", Filipino team captain Boy Rabe asked Mr. Bobby Ang who the opposition was. Ang said "Wu Wenjin, Ni Hua, Du Shan and Luo Wei". Rabe gave Ang a dumbfounded look, followed by a smile and said, "Heh,heh, funny joke. But seriously, what are their names?"
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1978 Buenos Aires Chess Olympiad: In the last round, New Zealand's Ortvin Sarapu had his plane ticket booked and may miss his flight. He agreed a draw in a winning position versus Philippines' GM Eugenio Torre.
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1998 Zone 3.2a Chess Championship in Burma: Philippine GMs Eugenio Torre and Rogelio Antonio received invitations to join but lack sponsors to finance their campaign. GM Torre turned over all the funds to GM Antonio so at least one of them could travel and play. GM Antonio eventually won the event.
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In 1990, GM Eugenio Torre believed that there is no computer program will ever be built that can defeat the World Chess Champion.
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In 1983, GM Eugenio Torre in financial trouble, had to sell his chess clocks to prepare for his Candidate's match against Hungarian Zoltan Ribli in Alicante, Spain.
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Torre-Portisch 1982 Toluca Interzonal Tournament: GM Eugenio Torre came to the tournament without any second, so one of his friends GM Miguel Quinteros would go up to his room every night and help him analyze. When the game was adjourned on the 60th move, after few hours of study, they admitted defeat and regard the position as lost. However, very early in the morning Eugene had a dream which suggested the drawing method. He hurriedly woke up Miguel and went over the lines again. Morning came, and hunger plus fatigue overcame both of them, Eugene collapsed happily into bed. The game was finally drawn upon resumption!
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1969 World Junior Championship in Stockholm Sweden: Financial problems almost prevented Eugenio Torre from participating, but his eldest brother Jess believed in his younger brother's potential and sold all his tricycles so that they would have enough money to pay their plane tickets. In the third game in the semi-final, Eugene drew his game versus Anatoly Karpov.
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It is said that chess is a simple game. All you have to do is checkmate your opponent's King and the game is over. But would you know how many possible moves, including illogical but legal ones, there are to play the first four moves of the white and black pieces in a game? From 100 to 200, or 1,000 to 10,000? No, says the mathematician.
There are 318,979,654,000 (318 billion, 979 million, six hundred fifty-four thousand) possible ways. By the time you get to the problem of how many ways there are to play the first 10 moves, the number is 169,518,829,100,544,000,000,000,000,000 (169 0ctillion, etc.).
The expert chess player of course will immediately discard illogical, irrelevant and voluntary loss of material in the opening without compensation, so the task is made simpler. The computer program "Deep Blue" that defeatedworld champion Gary Kasparov in 1997 can analyze 200 million moves/second, or 36 billion moves in 3 minutes, the maximum time allotted for the computer to make a move.
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According to his father William So, because of Wesley So's rigid chess studies in pursuit for GM title, Wesley has not watched television in the last six years!
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GM Wesley So learned the basics at the age of six from his father William, a Filipino-Chinese from Quiapo, Manila. They played the game over a narra-made chess set the elder So bought in Quiapo. GM So's idol Garry Kasparov, holds the record as the youngest world champion at 22.
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Would you believe that GM Mark Paragua resigned in a drawn position in a crucial game? In round 8 of the 2006 Turin Olympiad he faced GM Bu Xiangzhi of China on top board. As Bu recounts, Mark had defeated him in the 1998 World Youth Rapid Championship at Disneyland de France and won the title.
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Most of the Chinese players keep to themselves and do not freely mix with the "foreigners". A nice exception is GM Zhang Zhong who is very approachable and friendly. Engineer Ric Paragua (father of GM Mark Paragua) told Mr. Bobby Ang that during the Ubeda 2001 Open Tournament, Mark did not do particularly well, and they ran out of funds. GM Zhang Zhong, one of the prize winners there, immediately offered to loan them $500 to tide them over, and pay when able. How many people would do that?
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