Torre to play in record 24th Olympiad

MANILA, Philippines — The National Chess Federation of the Philippines yesterday named Grandmasters Eugene Torre, and Julio Catalino Sadorra and FIDE Master Mari Joseph Turqueza to the national team vying in the 43rd World Chess Olympiad on Sept. 23-Oct. 6 in Batumi, Georgia.

NCFP president and chairman Butch Pichay also seeded Woman GM Janelle Mae Frayna and WIMs Jan Jodilyn Fronda and Bernadette Galas in the women’s squad that includes Shania Mae Mendoza, Catherine Secopito and Marie Antoinette San Diego.

The NCFP, however, will drop one player after the team, also composed of International Masters Haridas Pascua and Jan Emmanuel Garcia, holds a training camp for a couple of weeks before the five-player squad leaves for Batumi.

Torre, 66, will be playing on a record 24th Olympiad while US-based Sadorra and John Paul Gomez are back on the top two boards.

Torre will provide the needed experience and leadership for the young Pascua and Garcia. In fact, in the last Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan, Torre bucked the odds and snared a bronze medal on board three with his superb, vintage performance.

He will also serve as coach and trainer of the squad.

The 25-year-old Turqueza showed impressive form and finished in a three-way tie for first with Pascua and Garcia in the Olympiad qualifying tournament recently to make it to the national pool.