HERE’S good news to all Filipino chess fans.
Asia’s first GM Eugene Torre was formally inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame during an online meeting of the FIDE (World Chess Federation) last April 20.
Torre, who became Asia’s first grandmaster during the 1974 World Chess Olympiad in Nice, France, was the first Asian male player to be nominated for such honor.
Torre, who will turn 70 in November, joins GM Miguel Najdorf of Argentina and GM Judit Polgar of Hungary in the list of FIDE nominees.
Reached for comment about his nomination , Torre expressed his appreciation to all the people who believed in him.
“It’s a great honor to be included in the revered list of names who I hold in high esteem. I share this newest achievement with my countrymen,” said Torre, who was also inducted in the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.
The FIDE historical committee which made the nominations is composed of Willy Iclicki of Belgium as chairman, Andrzej Filipowicz of Poland, Berik Balgabaev of Kazakhstan and Casto Abundo of the Philippines.
Before the Hall of Fame nomination, Torre’s record include:
— He was the only player to beat then wod champion Anatoly Karpov of Russia by winning a strong, four-man category XV tournament held in Manila in 1976.
— He tied for first place with GM Lajos Portisch of Hungary during the 1982 Toluca Interzonal and qualified for the Candidates Matches for the 1984 World Championship where he lost to GM Zoltan Ribli, 6–4, in Alicante, Spain
— He represented the country in the World Chess Olympiad starting as the Board 2 player behind IM Renanto Naranja in the 1970 Olympiad in Siegen, Germany.
— He captured the Olympiad bronze medal four times: the 21st Chess Olympiad (1974 Nice, France) where he went undefeated in 19 games (nine wins and 10 draws) for a total of 14 points for a high 2622 performance rating; 24th Olympiad (1980 Malta) where he scored 11 points in 14 games (nine wins, four draws, and one loss) for a performance rating of 2683 (2520 Elo); 27th Olympiad (1986 Dubai,) where he garnered 9.5 points in 13 games (seven wins, five draws, and one loss) for 2637 performance rating; and 42nd Olympiad (2016 Baku) where had 11 points on nine wins and two draws.
— He led the Philippine team to its best-ever seventh-place finish in the 1988 Chess Olympiad in Thessaloniki, Greece, surpassing the previous high of 11th-place in the 21st Chess Olympiad.
— He played the most Olympiads at 23 from 1970 to 2016 and the most games with 270 with 103 wins, 123 draws and 43 losses for a total of 165 points (61.1 percent winning percentage).
