MANILA, Philippines – Filipino Grandmaster Oliver Barbosa is setting aside his past differences with the country's top sports officials to play for flag and country in the 41st Chess Olympiad set Aug. 1-15 in Tromso, Norway.
"Oliver Barbosa is playing," said National Chess Federation of the Phl executive director and non-playing team captain Grandmaster Jayson Gonzales Friday.
Barbosa, 27, will thus join GMs Julio Catalino Sadorra, Eugene Torre, John Paul Gomez and newly-minted International Master Paulo Bersamina in the team already reeling from the decision of its former top board player Wesley So to switch federations and coach the United States team instead.
Just a few days before, Barbosa was hesitant on suiting up for the Tromso-bound team after the Phl Sports Commission cut his monthly allowance from P30,000 last year to P8,000 this year for failure to strike gold in the 2013 Myanmar Southeast Asian Games.
“I’m not yet sure,” Barbosa told The STAR three days ago.
Left with a meager salary, the Taytay, Rizal native was forced to leave the country in disgust early this year for the United States where he hoped to win some tournaments and earn some money to feed his family.
As of posting time, Barbosa, a vital cog in the country’s campaign as he played the second board behind So in the 40th Istanbul Olympiad two years ago and scored a solid seven points in 10 matches for an impressive performance rating of 2668, continued to receive the same amount for developmental and junior athlete.
In the end, his love for country endured.
The Filipinos though will plunge into Tromso like a headless chicken in the absence of So, whose World No. 15 ranking could be a big help if he had opted to stay instead of changing allegiances.
"No board assignments yet," said Gonzales.
But if the NCFP will base its board designations on ratings, Sadorra should play top board as has the second highest FIDE rating by a Filipino with 2600 behind So's 2744 and ahead of Barbosa's 2561.
Gomez comes next with a 2526 rating while Torre and Bersamina have ratings of 2423 and 2330, respectively.