Eugenio Torre

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Not to be confused with Carlos Torre Repetto.

Eugenio Torre

Torre in 1984

Full name

Eugenio Torre

Country

Philippines

Born

November 4, 1951 (age 65)

Philippines

Title

Grandmaster

FIDE rating

2495 (January 2017)

Peak rating

2580 (Jan 1983)

Eugenio Torre

Medal record

Representing

Philippines

Asian Games

2010 Guangzhou

Men's Team

Chess Olympiad

2016 Baku

Men's Olympiad

Chess Olympiad

1986 Dubai

Men's Olympiad

Chess Olympiad

1980 Valletta

Men's Olympiad

Chess Olympiad

1974 Nice

Men's Olympiad

Asian Chess Championships

1993 Kuala Lumpur

Men's Team

Asian Chess Championships

1983 New Delhi

Men's Team

Asian Chess Championships

1981 Hangzhou

Men's Team

Asian Chess Championships

1979 Singapore

Men's Team

Asian Chess Championships

1977 Auckland

Men's Team

Eugenio Torre (born November 4, 1951) is a chess grandmaster (GM). He is considered the
strongest chess player the Philippines produced during the 1980s and 1990s, and has been Board 1
player for the Philippines in eighteen World Chess Olympiads. In 1974, then twenty-two years old,
he became Asia's first Grandmaster by winning the silver medal in the Chess Olympiad held in Nice,
France. In a tournament in Manila in the 1976, Torre beat then reigning world chess
champion Anatoly Karpov in a game that has become part of Filipino chess history. In 1982 he
earned a spot in the World Candidates Chess Championships, where he faced the legendary Zoltan
Ribli. His ELO rating reached 2602 in 1985 and in 1986 Torre was ranked 40th in the world with an
ELO Rating of 2619. He served as Bobby Fischer's second in the 1992 match against Boris
Spassky in Yugoslavia. Torre is still performing consistently as of present by winning the 2008 Pres.
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Cup, an international chess tournament. [1]
Contents
[hide]

1Chess career
o

1.1197684
2Olympiads, Team Championships and Asian Games

2.1Olympiads

2.2Asian Chess Team Championships

2.3Asian Cities Chess Championships

2.4Asian Games

2.5World Student Chess Team Championships

2.6Later career

2.7Head-to-head record versus World Champions

3Relations with Fischer

4Notable games

5Awards and achievements

6Notes

7References

8External links

Chess career[edit]
197684[edit]

Torre in 1982

Torre shot to prominence in 1976 as a possible future title challenger after winning a strong four-man
tournament in Manila ahead of world champion Anatoly Karpov thus becoming the first player to
finish ahead of Karpov in a tournament since the latter became world champion. "In the summer of
1976, three grandmasters traveled to Manila, Philippines to participate in the Marlboro-Loyola Kings
Challenge chess tournament. They were (in order of Elo): World Champion Anatoly Karpov (2695)
from the Soviet Union, Ljubomir Ljubojevic (2620) from Yugoslavia, and Walter Shawn Browne
(2585) from the United States. They were joined by grandmaster Eugenio Torre (2505) from the
Philippines for a double-round robin event. The average rating of the players qualified the
tournament as a category XV event.
The result was surprising and momentous due to the inspired play of Torre. Not only did he defeat
the world champion in the second round, but he went on to finish clear first ahead of Karpov, a feat
no one had yet accomplished since the latter had become World Champion. His success in the
tournament earned Torre a place in history. The final standings and crosstable are as follows:
1 Torre 4.5/6 * * 1 1 1
2 Karpov 3.0/6 0 * * 1
3 Ljubojevic 2.5/6 0 0 * * 1
4 Browne 2.0/6 0 0 * *[2]
The high point of his career came in the early 1980s when he was ranked world No.17; successfully
going on to qualify as a candidate for the world championship after tying for first with Lajos
Portisch during the 1982 Toluca Interzonal.

Torre has the distinction of being the first Asian player to earn the title of International Grandmaster.
He qualified for the Candidates Matches for the 1984 World Championship. In that preliminary stage,
the contenders play matches against each other to determine who will challenge the world
champion. Torre was eliminated when he lost his match against Zoltn Ribli by a score of 64.
After losing his quarterfinal candidates match to Ribli in 1983, Torre became disillusioned with chess
and more or less went into semi-retirement. He went on to become a minor celebrity due to his daily
one-hour TV programme Chess Today.
In 1984, Torre was selected to play in the 1st USSR vs. the Rest of the World competition held in
London, England. The USSR team was led by the world's two (2) highest ranked players at that
time, Garry Kasparov (2710 ELO) and Karpov (2700 ELO) while the Rest of the World was led
by Viktor Kortschnoj and Ljubomir Ljubojevic both with 2635 ELO rating. Torre had an ELO rating of
2565 for this tournament where he contributed 2 points in 3 matches, all against Andrei Sokolov,
winning 2 and losing once.[3]

Olympiads, Team Championships and Asian Games[edit]

Olympiads[edit]
From 1970 to 2010, the former business administration undergraduate from Mapa Institute of
Technology donned the national colors 20 times in the World Chess Olympiad, 19 of which were
consecutively, to break the old record of 18 consecutive held by Heikki Westerinen. His 20 nonconsecutive appearances tied the record set by Hungary's Lajos Portisch. During that 40-year
period, he manned the top board for Team Philippines a record 17 times except in the 1970 (Siegen,
Germany), 2006 (Turin, Italy) and 2010 (Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia) editions. In that stretch, Torre had
played in 236 games winning 86, drawing 111 and losing 39 games for a grand total of 141 points.
The high point of his Olympiad career was winning the Bronze Medal thrice in the Individual
Standings in Board 1, at the 21st Chess Olympiad (1974 Nice, France) where he went undefeated in
19 games (nine wins and ten draws) for a total of 14 points for a 73.7% winning percentage and a
high 2622 performance rating (as compared to his ELO rating of 2450); 24th Chess Olympiad (1980
Valletta, Malta) where he scored 11 points in 14 games (nine wins, four draws, and one loss) for a
winning percentage of 78.6% and performance rating of 2683 (2520 ELO), and lastly in the 27th
Chess Olympiad (1986 Dubai, UAE) where he garnered 9 points in 13 games (seven wins, five
draws, and one loss) with a 73.1% winning percentage and 2637 performance rating (2540 ELO).
Team Philippines achieved its highest finish of 11th place at the 1974 Chess Olympiad.
In 1988, Torre captained the Philippine team to its best-ever seventh-place finish in the Chess
Olympiad in Thessaloniki, Greece.[4] breaking the previous high of 11th-place finish at the 21st Chess
Olympiad. Torre finished with 9 points on 6 wins, 6 draws and 2 losses manning Board 1 with a high
performance rating of 2620[5] as compared to his ELO rating of 2555. His teammates then included
International Masters (IMs) Rico Mascarias and Rosendo Balinas who played Boards 2 and 3, and
then 3 untitled players namely Rogelio Antonio (Board 4), Eric Gloria (Board 5) and Rogelio
Barcenilla (Alternate).
At the 39th Chess Olympiad held at Khanty-Mansiysk in 2010, Torre manned Board 4 for the
Philippines and played 7 games where he scored 4.5 points with 3 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss with a
performance rating of 2460[6] which was a shade below his ELO rating of 2489. In 2012, Torre
participated in his record 21st Olympiad appearance at the 40th Chess Olympiad breaking his tie
with Lajos Portisch held at Istanbul, Turkey. He manned Board 3 in this edition of the Olympiad.[7] He
scored 3.5 points in 7 games on the strength of 2 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses. [8] He recorded a very
high performance rating of 2611 in this Olympiad,[9] higher than his 2469 ELO rating. In 2014, Torre
again manned Board 3 for Team Philippines in the Tromso Olympiad for his record-setting 22nd
appearance in the said tournament. He scored 5.5 points in 9 games posting 3 wins, 5 draws against
a solitary loss. He recorded a performance rating of 2527 and gained 9.9 ELO points in the said
Olympiad.[10] His ELO rating then was 2438.

In the 2016 42nd Chess Olympiad held at Baku, Azerbaijan, Torre played in his 23rd Olympiad,
further extending his record, where he manned Board 3 for Team Philippines. He played in all 11
games, the only player to do so, scoring a phenomenal 10 points built around 9 wins and 2 draws
and going undefeated in the entire Olympiad. He had a performance rating of 2836 good enough for
him to win the bronze medal in Board 3 just behind former teammate Wesley So of Team USA
and Zoltan Almasi of Team Hungary who won the Gold and Silver medals. He earned a whopping
46.9 ELO rating points hiking his current ELO rating to 2494 from his current 2447. [11]

Asian Chess Team Championships[edit]

He also has taken part in six Asian Chess Team Championships (1977, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1986,
1993). Torre has an outstanding record at this tournament where he won the gold medal 4 times: for
his score in the 1977 (Auckland, New Zealand), 1979 (Singapore), 1981 (Hangzhou, China) and
1983 (New Delhi, India) editions. He also won the bronze in the 1993 (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
competition. In all six team championships, Torre manned the top board for Team Philippines. He
has played a total of 43 games scoring a total of 35.5 points built around 29 wins, 13 draws and a
solitary loss for a winning percentage of 82.6%.[12]
In the 1977 edition, Torre played 7 games, going undefeated with 5 wins and 2 draws for a winning
percentage of 85.7 and a tournament performance rating (TPR) of 2615 as compared to his 2550
ELO rating winning the gold medal. He also won the gold medal in the 1979 edition going
undefeated once again by winning 5 games and drawing 1 for a winning percentage of 91.7 with a
TPR of 2671 (2520 ELO); in the 1981 edition where he was again undefeated with 4 wins and 2
draws for a winning percentage of 83.3 and a 2604 TPR (2525 ELO), he again brought home the
gold medal; and lastly, in the 1983 edition he scored a near perfect score of 8.5/9 winning 8 games
and drawing 1 in another undefeated tournament with a winning percentage of 94.4% and an
outstanding TPR of 2743 (2570 ELO) on the way to another gold medal.
It was in the 1986 edition where Torre suffered his only loss against Malaysian International Master
(IM) Liew Chee Meng in the fifth round. It was also in this edition that Torre did not win any medal of
any color when he placed a dismal 6th place in Board 1 scoring 4 points by virtue of 3 wins, 2 draws
and the loss against Meng for a winning percentage of 66.7 and a TPR of 2431 (2540 ELO).
In the 1993 edition, he bounced back by going undefeated once again scoring 6.5 points in 9 games,
winning 4 and drawing 5 for a winning percentage of 72.2% and a TPR of 2584 (2540 ELO). This
bronze medal capped Torre's magnificent record in the history of the Asian Chess Team
Championships.

Asian Cities Chess Championships[edit]

In 2002 and 2004, Torre also manned the top board for Team Philippines in the 13th and 14th
editions of the Asian Cities Chess Championships. The 13th edition was held at Aden, Yemen where
Torre scored 5 points in nine games on the strength of three wins, five draws and one loss while
Manila, Philippines hosted the 14th edition where he scored 5 points in eight games (four wins, two
draws, and two losses). He has scored a total of 10.5 points in 17 games on 7 wins, 7 draws and 3
losses for a winning percentage of 61.8%.[13]
Team Philippines won the Gold Medal in the 2002 edition while they placed 3rd, good for the bronze
medal, in the 2004 edition.

Asian Games[edit]
In the 16th Asian Games, Torre helped the Philippines finished second behind China, beating the
Indian team in the semifinals to secure the silver medal. He played 8 games as a reserve scoring 5.5
points on the strength of 4 wins, 3 draws and a solitary loss for a winning percentage of 68.8% and a
TPR of 2470.

World Student Chess Team Championships[edit]

Torre also played Board 3 in the World Student Chess Team Championships in 1969 although he
lost his one and only game in the said tournament against William Roland Hartson. [14]

Later career[edit]
In 2006, Torre participated in the 2nd San Marino International Chess Open where he tied for fourth
through eleventh places with 6 points in nine rounds where he eventually placed seventh after the
tie-breaks becoming the highest-placed Filipino in the said tournament. He had a performance rating
of 2612 at the said tournament and won 1,000 for his seventh-place finish. [15]
In 2010, Torre competed in the 3rd Calgary International Chess Championships held at Alberta,
Canada where he flashed his vintage form by finishing in a tie for second through fourth places on
the strength of four wins, four draws and a solitary loss against GM Victor Mikhalevski, the
tournament top seed with ELO Rating of 2614. Torre had an ELO Rating of 2506 during the said
tournament.[16]
In 2011, Torre joined two prestigious international chess championships in the Philippines, the Asian
Zone 3.3 Chess Championships and the 2nd Chairman Prospero A. Pichay, Jr. Cup International
Open Chess Championships. He finished in a tie for 15th21st places in the Asian Zonals eventually
placing 18th after tiebreaks (5 points out of nine games on four wins, three losses, and two draws). It
was a poor finish for Torre as he had a four-game winning streak from rounds 2 to 5 after an opening
round loss to FM Haridas Pascua to take the lead after five rounds but faltered in the last four rounds
where he scored only 1 point (two draws and two losses). He had a low performance rating of 2344
in this tournament.[17] In the 2nd Pichay Cup, he improved a little bit by scoring 6 points in 10
games to finish in a tie for 11th18th places eventually finishing in 14th place (four wins, five draws,
and one loss). This is another heartbreaker as he was stalled by five draws despite losing only one
game to Chinese Lu Shanglei. In this tournament he had a performance rating of 2496. [18]
In June 2014, Torre won the prestigious National Chess Championships - Battle of GMs held at the
function room of the Philippine Sports Commission in Vito Cruz, Manila. In so doing, Torre became
the oldest Filipino chess player to win a national championships at the age of 62 by scoring 23 points
under the Pichay-Torre system or 4.5 points under the standard system. He won the title via tiebreak
over fellow GM John Paul Gomez. The tournament also served as the qualifying tournament for the
2014 Olympiad to be held in Tromso, Norway in August. This is Torre's record 22nd appearance in
the Olympiad.[19]
In 2016, Torre was part of the 2nd batch of inductees of the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame cited by
the Philippine Sports Commission.[20]

Head-to-head record versus World Champions[edit]

(Rapid, blitz and blindfold games not included; listed as +wins losses =draws as of May 2, 2014.) [21]

Vasily Smyslov +1 -2 =1 (1.5/4)

Mikhail Tal +1 -0 =3 (2.5/4)

Tigran Petrosian +0 0 =4 (2/4)

Boris Spassky +0 3 =3 (1.5/6)

Anatoly Karpov +2 4 =5 (4.5/11)

Garry Kasparov +0 4 =1 (0.5/5)

Viswanathan Anand +1 2 =2 (2/5)

Relations with Fischer[edit]

Torre was a friend of Bobby Fischer. He worked on Fischer's team in his 1992 rematch with Boris
Spassky in Yugoslavia. Much later, Torre conducted interviews on dzRH MBC Sports Center,a
Filipino radio with Bobby Fischer. Those interviews gained notoriety for Fischer and despair for his
fans. Torre was involved in 1996 when Fischer Random Chess was launched. One anecdote during
this period has it that when Torre and Fischer boarded a taxi in Buenos Aires, the driver immediately
recognized Torre as a chess player. As both were about to leave the taxi, the driver, not knowing who
the other distinguished passenger was, asked Torre: "Whatever happened to that crazy guy
Fischer?"[22]

Notable games[edit]
This section uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

In a tournament in Manila in the 1976, Torre beat then reigning world chess champion Anatoly
Karpov in a game[23] that has become part of Filipino chess history.
Karpov vs. Torre, Sicilian Defense (B67): 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bg5
e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.0-0-0 Bd7 9.f4 b5 10.Qe1 Nxd4 11.Rxd4 Qb6 12.Rd2 Be7 13.Bd3 b4 14.Nd1 Bb5
15.Nf2 h6 16.Bh4 g5 17.fxg5 hxg5 18.Bg3 Nh5 19.Ng4 Nxg3 20.hxg3 Rxh1 21.Qxh1 Rc8 22.Kb1
Bxd3 23.cxd3 Qd4 24.Qd1 a5 25.Nh2 g4 26.Nxg4 Bg5 27.Rc2 Rxc2 28.Kxc2 a4 29.a3 b3+ 30.Kb1
d5 31.exd5 Qxd5 32.Nf2 Qxg2 33.Ne4 Be3 34.Nc3 Qc6 35.d4 Qc4 36.d5 e5 37.Qh1 Qd3+ 38.Ka1
Bd4 39.Qh8+ Kd7 40.Qa8 Qf1+ 41.Nb1 Qc4 42.Qb7+ Kd6 43.Qb8+ Kxd5 44.Qd8+ Ke6 45.Qe8+
Kf5 46.Qd7+ Kg6 47.Qg4+ Kf6 48.Nc3 Qf1+ 01

Awards and achievements[edit]

Asia's first Grandmaster at the age of 22

1970 Philippine Junior and Adult Champion

1974 Nice, France Chess Olympiad, Silver medalist on Board 1 going undefeated in 19
games with 9 wins and 10 draws

1976 The Marlboro-Loyola Kings Challenge, Champion (becoming the first player to finish
ahead of Anatoly Karpov since Karpov became world champion)

1977 Asian Chess Team Championships, Gold Medal on Board 1 (6 points/7) 5 wins, 2
draws (undefeated)

1979 Asian Chess Team Championships, Gold Medal on Board 1 (5.5 points/6) 5 wins, 1
draw (undefeated)

1980 La Valletta, Malta Chess Olympiad, Bronze medalist on Board 1 scoring 11 points/14 (9
wins, 4 draws, 1 loss)

1981 Asian Chess Team Championships, Gold Medal on Board 1 (5 points/6) 4 wins, 2
draws (undefeated)

1983 Asian Chess Team Championships, Gold Medal on Board 1 (8.5 points/9) 8 wins, 1
draw (undefeated)

1986 Dubai, UAE Chess Olympiad, Bronze medalist on Board 1 garnering 9.5 points/13 (7
wins, 5 draws, 1 loss)

1993 Asian Chess Team Championships, Bronze Medal on Board 1 (6.5 points/9) 4 wins, 5
draws

2002 Philippine National Champion

2005 Southeast Asian Games, Silver Medal (Men's Standard Team Event)

2005 Southeast Asian Games, Bronze Medal (Men's Individual Rapid Chess)

2005 5th Bangkok Chess Club Open, 2nd Place (7.5/9 lost in tiebreak to Ian Rogers)

2006 2nd San Marino International Chess Open, 7th place

2008 3rd President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (PGMA) Cup, Champion (7/9)

2010 3rd Calgary International Chess Classic, second place (6/9, tied with IMs Renier
Castellanos and Edward Porper)

2014 National Chess Championships - Battle of GMs, Champion

2010 20th Appearance at Chess Olympiad equaling Lajos Portisch

2012 21st Appearance at Chess Olympiad held at Istanbul, Turkey, breaking his tie with
Portisch

2014 22nd Appearance at Chess Olympiad held at Tromso, Norway, breaking his old record
of 21 appearances

2016 23rd Appearance at Chess Olympiad held at Baku, Azerbaijan, breaking his old record
of 22 appearances.

2016 Baku, Azerbaijan Chess Olympiad, Bronze medalist on Board 3 scoring 10/11 points
(undefeated with 9 wins and 2 draws), and a performance rating of 2836. He gained a
phenomenal 46.9 ELO ratings point in this tournament.

Ranked as high as No. 17 in the world in the 1980s

Has appeared in the Chess Olympics 20 consecutive times, equaling Portisch

Played Board 2 for Team Philippines in the 1970 Chess Olympiad at Siegen, Germany
behind International Master Renato Naranja

In the 1972 Skopje Olympiad, he assumed the top board (Board 1) for Team Philippines, a
position he held until the 2004 Olympiad held at Mallorca, Spain (a total of 17 Olympiads, a
world record)

Played Top Board in the following Olympiads: Skopje 1972, Nice 1974 (where he received
his GM title and led the Philippines to a then unprecedented 11th-place finish), Haifa 1976,
Buenos Aires, 1978, Malta 1980, Lucerne 1982, Thessaloniki 1984, Dubai 1986, Thessaloniki
1988 (where the Philippines recorded its best finish at 7th place), Novi Sad 1990, Manila 1992,
Moscow 1994, Yerevan 1996, Elista 1998, Istanbul 2000, Bled 2002 and Calvi de Mallorca
2004

At the 2006 Olympiad at Turin, Italy, gave way to GM Mark Paragua on top board as he
played Board 2 for only the second time in his entire Olympics career

After 23 Chess Olympiads, Torre had recorded 103 wins, 124 draws and 43 losses in 270
games for a total score of 165 points, second over-all in Olympiad history behind Portisch
(176/260 games). However, he now holds the distinction of having played the most games in
the history of the Olympiad with 270.