Visa woes force Barbosa to miss early parts of Chess Olympiad

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine team seeing action in the 41st Chess Olympiad set Aug. 1-15 in Tromso, Norway will have to do without Grandmaster Oliver Barbosa in the earlier rounds due to delays in the processing of visas.

Barbosa, 27, said his arrival in Tromso will be delayed since he could not start filing a Schengen visa because the plane ticket that would have flown him from New York in the United States straight in Norway has yet to arrive.

"It takes two weeks to get a Schengen visa. I couldn't not set an appointment yet because I haven't received the plane ticket yet. Now it's 13 days before the Olympiad, so I'll probably arrive late," Barbosa on Thursday told The STAR in Filipino.

National Chess Federation of the Phl executive director GM Jayson Gonzales, for his part, said they are still waiting for the Phl Sports Commission to release the tickets.

"As soon as we get the ticket from the PSC, we'll immediately send it to him (Barbosa)," said Gonzales.

After much thought, Barbosa has made the decision of suiting up in the Tromso-bound team last July 10.

He will join GMs Julio Catalino Sadorra, Eugene Torre and John Paul Gomez and newly-minted International Master Paulo Bersamina, a last-minute replacement to Wesley So, who decided to coach the US team instead.

And this Barbosa did despite the Phl Sports Commission's decision to cut his monthly allowance from P30,000 to just P9,000 early this year for failure to strike gold in last year's Myanmar Southeast Asian Games.

Barbosa will be 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.