On the 4th day of November 1951, in a humble home in the Province of Iloilo, the first Asian Chess Grandmaster was born.
After bagging home the silver medal in the 21st Chess Olympiad in France, Eugenio “Eugene” Torre was the first Asian to be hailed as Chess Grandmaster at 22 years old. His journey while defending his battles’ kings was not a fairytale to be told. In the 1969 edition of the Junior World Chess Championship, he only landed in fifth place in Final C. Two years later, in the same event, he pocketed fourth place.
In 1972, he became the Philippines’ third International Grandmaster. During this year, he had won several tournaments, including the Torneo di Capodanno.
It was in 1976 when he was known in the world of this tactical game. This recognition came after defeating the then World Champion Anatoly Karpov. He was the first chess player to defeat Karpov ever since he was awarded the World Championship. His stint continued until defeating Karpov in the Marlboro-Loyola Kings Challenge. Since then, Torre joined several international chess tournaments finishing strong on the tally board. He seized the top seed in the 1979 Marlboro Classic event and the 2nd Asian GMs Circuit event.
He was the first Asian to qualify for the world championship in the 1980s after securing the 17th spot in the world ranking. He earned the title as the first Asian Grandmaster at 22 after being undefeated for 19 games at the 21st Chess Olympiad. And in 1988, he brought the Philippines its highest ranking in the Chess Olympiad after finishing 7th place together with IMs Rico Mascariñas and Ruben Rodriguez. He now holds the record for the most number of games played in the said Olympiad with 270 games.
His last tournament was the 9th edition of the Asian Senior Chess Championship held in Tagaytay City, where he triumphed with the gold medal.
He is now the first Asian male to be inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame after the World Chess Federation approved his inclusion to its list last April 19 and Polish-Argentine Grandmaster Miguel Najdorf and GM Judit Polgar of Hungary.
He was a close friend of Bobby Fischer, the youngest chess grandmaster and the proponent of Fischer Random Chess.
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Written by: Rizza Alarcio
Layout and Design by: Gerald Reyes
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