Chess in the Philippines

Chess has been a part of my life for the past 10 years or so. I don’t play myself, though I did learn the basics when I was a young boy. My two oldest sons play(ed), the oldest having learned it from his uncle. My middle boy still plays and in fact had tournaments the last two weekends. He mostly plays adult tournaments, which he has done since he was nine.

I didn’t realize until just recently that chess was so popular in the Philippines. We’ve seen a few Pilipino players at some of the larger tournaments we’ve gone to, but there are people of all nationalities at these events. Russia and China seem to be especially well represented.

During our visit to the province last year my brother-in-law invited me to play. I was a little surprised to see they had a chess board. Not wanting to be rude, and I was a little bored, I decided to take him up on it. Like I said, I don’t play, so I believe when he resigned it was just a matter of him being respectful. That was my first notion that chess was a popular game there.

Recently I’ve seen many articles regarding chess in the Davao area, both adult and scholastic. The coverage of these events seems to be on par with other sporting events, and that in itself puts it in a different class than around here. As I said, my son has played in a couple of tournaments the last weekend, but you would be hard pressed to find any mention of those anywhere around here.

Mindanao has its own very talented star in the making. National Master Reggie Olay, who is from Kidapawan City, said he is also targeting the Grandmaster title next year and join the country’s elite club of chess wizards. The 32-year-old Olay, the hottest chess player in Mindanao today, vowed to unravel more brilliance in his game as he seeks to gain two more norms this year to complete his International Master (IM) title.

“I’m really concentrating on my chess career now and I hope to get my two IM norms this year,”

said Olay, who gained the first of three IM norms when he finished strong in Subic International Open last year.

The Philippines is also home of the world’s youngest Grandmaster, Wesley So. So was born in Manila, and was the 7th youngest of all time to achieve the title of Grandmaster. On the January 2009 FIDE rating list, GM So’s ELO rating is 2627 making him the highest ranked chess player in the Philippines.

Other current Pilipino Grandmasters include:

• Eugene Torre (ELO rating 2560)
• John Paul Gomez (ELO rating 2539)
• Mark Paragua (ELO rating 2537)
• Rogelio “Joey” Antonio Jr.(ELO rating 2519)
• Darwin Laylo (ELO rating 2504)
• Buenaventura “Bong” Villamayor (ELO rating 2471
• Jayson Gonzales (ELO rating 2467)
• Nelson Mariano (ELO rating 2447)

Olay seeks IM, GM titles | Sun.Star Network Online