After Five Centuries: Philippines is Chess Country (Last Part)

Hi guys!

The past two weeks have been very busy for me. We had the Induction of Imus Chess Association Officers and "SIMUL" with GM Eugene Torre. I had to attend to all the practice sessions of my students in our annual Christmas Play. This year, we will be presenting "The Fiddler on the Roof". This is one of the classics in the history of movies in the entire Universe. Tonight, December 14, 2006, will be the first of the two play nights. Truly, the entire community of Mahatma Gandhi International School-Manila has prepared for this. Good luck to all of us!

Before I get entangled in the pre-show preparation, I'd like to finish this 5-Part Philippine Chess History by Aida Sevilla Mendoza from her Article After Five Centuries, The Philippines is Chess Country.

In 1975, we conquered a sleeping giant in the RP-China Friendship Chess Match, the first visit of a foreign chess delegation, and repeated the feat two years later in the return match in the Philippines. China began joining Asian team championship which we successfully defended in all tournaments in Auckland, New Zealand in 1977, Singapore in 1979, and Hangzou, China in1981.

Torre continued his reign as Asian chess King, winning the Melbourne zonal in 1975, and the Japan zonal in1978 where he shared the title with Ruben Rodriguez.

In the 1981 Hong Kong zonal, the first four finish by Filipinos cemented our Asian chess supremacy.

The 1976 Manila Interzonal was organized successfully despite a declaration of a state of calamity due to a typhoon that hit Manila at the time. this proved te capabilities of the PCF and paved the way for the first world championship to be held in Asia two years later.

The first Asian Junior Championship in Baguio City, 1977, was also an opportunity to hold the first Asian Conference of Chess Presidents. the meeting gave birth to a major promotional drive - Asian Grandmaster Circuit and later the IM Circuit.

Steadily, Filipino hero Eugene Torre spearheaded the rise of the country's chessers.He led teams to Haifa in 1976, Buenos Aires in 1978, Malta in 1980 and Lucerne in 1982.Torre's seventh place finish in the 1979 Rio de Janeiro Interzonal was the best place yet an Asian player.Then came the Toluca Interzonal and history was made when Torre became the first Asian to barge into the elite Candidates Matches.

Other Asian federations kept brisk the pace of the growth of chess in the region. the first Asian Chess Technical Conference in manila in 1980 boosted this progress further with the support of FIDE officers Ineke Bakker, Gm Yuri Averbach, Col. Edmund Edmondson, prof. Lim Kok Ann and Campomanes. Asian Chess organizers got a shot in the arm.

One of the fruits of progress is the Buklod BayanChessfest, an ambitious national chess development program which aims to introduce chess-consciousness at the grassroots level all over the country.

Today, millions of Filipinos sit before their chessboards challenging one another's intellects over a game of chess. Today, too, a Filipino sits at the helm of the FIDE, the foremost chess body in the world. it is fitting, it is right that this is the order of things. For the Philippines has indeed become a chess country, dedicated to the progress of this strangely absorbing sport not only among Filipinos but among the peoples of the world.

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This article is from the souvenir program of the 54th FIDE World Congress Manila 1983.