Torre book

BY: BOBBY ANG

(As published in Chess Piece, BusinessWorld, 09 December 2010)

Eugene Torre played well in the just-concluded 2010 Asian Games and he deserves great credit for the silver medal finish of the Philippine team there. He had four wins (Dhamir, IM Khamrakulov, GMs Adhiban and Gopal) three draws and a loss. Consider this an emphatic statement that his career is not yet over.

This might be a good opportunity to address the many e-mail I have received on what ever happened to the book I was writing on GM Eugene Torre’s chess career. Well, here is the answer.

Around three years ago I sat down with Eugene and Meralco’s Raul Sol Cruz to write a chess biography that would make Eugene proud, but right in the middle of our work the publisher just withdrew without a word, leaving me with a manuscript that was around half done. Completely disgusted with seeing all that work going to waste I just shelved the project.

It was really a great pity, for it contained some of the best work I had ever done. A few days ago I saw in chessgames.com something written about NM Ed Bernal, a name that many of us had already forgotten, and this inspired me to reveal the contribution he made to GM Torre’s career.

Way back in 1983 Eugene played a candidates’ match in Alicante versus GM Zoltan Ribli of Hungary -- if he wins this he would be two matches away from the world championship. Eugene lost two games at the start and this is the 7th game. I will now quote from the Torre manuscript, which is written in the first person by Eugene:

I was quite happy for having been matched against Ribli. We are the same age and played each other twice before -- he defeated me in the 1971 Athens World Juniors, where I placed fourth to his second, while I had my revenge in the 1976 Manila Interzonal. As White he usually plays solid, positional chess. He tries to build a strong pawn structure and strives to make something out of the smallest of advantages. Makunat, in local chess lingo.

As Black Ribli is a completely different player. Against 1.e4 he invites tactical play and likes the Najdorf Sicilian. Against 1.d4 he plays solid defense and likes maneuvering.

As for my preparation before the match, Don Pablo Carlos of Toyota was one of the few who made good on his promise to help -- he put his house in Baguio at my disposal for training. Still, I had to personally shell out for my seconds and food and meals: International Masters Ricky de Guzman, Rico Mascarinas, and National Master Ed Bernal.

Rico Mascarinas and Ricky de Guzman were two of my close buddies. There were some quarters who criticized the choice of Bernal since he was not internationally titled, but Ed was actually very helpful. He was highly organized and had a great aptitude for hard work. There were no computers yet back then and the fruits of our preparation had to be written out in index cards and constantly updated. This he accomplished with flying colors.

One week before departure we still had no tickets. Thankfully, at the last moment, the Philippine Chess Federation, through its President Justice Federico Moreno, managed to get plane tickets for myself, Marilin and IM Rico Mascarinas. Sadly we had to make do without GM Miguel Quinteros of Argentina as our chief Second, since there was just not enough money. I wanted Miguel in because he is one of my trusted GM friends and more importantly he helped me during my crucial adjourned game vs Lajos Portisch in Toluca.

Around the time of game 7 the cigarette company La Suerte came through with some financial help which enabled NM Ed Bernal to buy plane tickets to make his way to Alicante to help me out. His arrival buoyed up my morale, as I felt that finally the people back home were coming through for me, and I swore a silent resolution myself to really make a go of it.

Torre, Eugenio (2580) -- Ribli, Zoltan (2595)
[B42] Candidates qf4 Alicante (7), 1983
REQUIRES JAVA





A nice comeback! From a hopeless position Eugene was now only one down with three games to go. Sadly, he fell again in round 10 and lost the match.