Sunday, May 14, 2006

Philippine Chess Team

A well-funded Philippine team is sending a large contingent to Turin. There will be 24 persons in all. For the first time, apparently, the country is sending in alternate players - NM Rolando Nolte, NM Roderick Nava, WNM Shercila Cua and 14-year-old WNM Kimberly Jane Cunanan.

The complete team list is available here from Sun Star.

You know, I nearly forgot about the connection between Vishy Anand and the Philippines (which is mentioned in passing in that report above). Back in 1978, Anand's father was sent to RP to work on some assignment for the railways. It also happened to be a time in RP history when a terrible sickness befell the entire archipelago - chess fever! The kid Anand was stricken by this sickness. There is a story about him solving the chess puzzles aired by a local TV chess show ("Chess Today"). It got to a point where the producers would call up and asked him not to participate in the solving contests in order to give the other kids a chance!

Vishy also won a gold medal in an inter-schools comp playing for one of the country's most prestigious institutions - De la Salle University.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What happened to WIM Arianne Caoili? Is she playing for Australia? Could she have been a top women's GM with the right mentoring and international exposure? But of course sponsors too.

The Closet Grandmaster said...

Yes, she is playing for Australia in Turin. At the moment, she's touring around the US (just been from Mexico, I believe) and will meet up with the team in Italy.

I'd say that with the appropriate nurturing, training, etc, she very well could have been at least a WGM (she has two norms already and one IM norm). But she gave up chess for 2 or so years to finish her high school.

Anonymous said...

Hi! I'm Michael. Im a 19 y/o medical student at UPM. I'm a chess enthusiast who always joined tournament when I was below ten but have never played again since then. Now, my interest in chess is back. I want to join the Philippine Chess community; my goal is to be someday part of the Philippine Chess Team. Is that possible? or am I now too old? Pwede niyo po ba ako tulungan regarding this matter? What clubs to join (I live at Robinsons Manila), what tournaments to enter, etc? eto po pala cell number ko: 09162727231. Thanks!

P.S. Im Sorry if this is not the proper place to ask...