Women's chess

Just some of the beautiful faces that make the venue of the 2010 Women's World Chess Championship like heaven. Indeed, chess makes men happy.




How I wish to see a Philippine flag beside a Filipina who is banging it out against the likes of GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, GM Koneru Humpy, GM Hou Yifan, and GM Antoaneta Stefanova - some of the topseeds of the 2010 Women's World Chess Championship that is now taking place in Hatay, Turkey from December 2 to Christmas Day.

The reality, however, is that we could not even afford to send women representatives to the just concluded 2010 Asian Games in China.

Are we lacking in female talents? I don't think so.

The reason for not sending the Philippine women's chess team, as I got from the papers, was that it had a slim chance of bagging a medal in the face of competition against China, Vietnam and Indonesia.

What a disappointment! The country's national chess officials had the guts to publicly announce, in essence, that the Philippine women's chess team is inferior to its counterparts from neighbors Vietnam and Indonesia.

The reason for the pull out was anchored on the reported directive from the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) to all national sports associations (NSAs) not to send athletes with slim chances of bagging a medal.

Was the directive good? Perhaps, at the onset, yes. Give the goodies only to the good - just perfectly just and fine. Reap what you sow.

However, if we are going to closely look at the realities of it, the directive was not really that ideal.

The directive favors only the NSAs that have a comprehensive and effective skills development program for their athletes. Meaning, the athletes are always at the receiving end, just thriving at the mercy of the performance of their respective NSAs.

It's good if you're an athlete and you have an effective NSA. But what if you are in a sinking one?

With the National Chess Federation of the Philippines' clueless and cloudy skills development program (is there any in the first place?) for our chess heroines, the wish to see Philippine flag in the future women's world chess championships would stay just like that - a wish.