GRANDMASTER Eugene Torre has been inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame last Monday, joining an illustrious list of players who have been accorded the honor.
Torre, who will turn 70 in November, is the first Asian male player inducted into the WCHFame that was established in 1984 in St. Louis, Missouri.
Inducted along with Torre were Polish-Argentine GM Miguel Najdorf and GM Judit Polgar of Hungary.
The first Asian player to be inducted into the WCHF is former world women’s champion Xie Jun of China, who got inducted in 2019.
“Ang mahalaga nabibigyan na din ng pagkilala ang mga Asyano sa chess lalu na’t baby pa tayo sa chess kung ikukumpara sa Russians, Americans and Europeans. May mga nag-world champion na din galing sa Asya gaya nina Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand ng India, Xie Jun ng China at maging si Filipino US-based Wesley So,” Torre said.
The first five inductees into the WCHF were Jose Raul Capablanca of Cuba, Wilhem Steinitz of Austria, Robert James “Bobby” Fischer and Paul Morphy of the US, and Emmanuel Lasker of Germany.
Torre, who became Asia’s first grandmaster in 1974 at age 22, was inducted into the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame by the Philippine Sports Commission in 2016.
Since 2001, 37 players have been inducted, among them Tigran Petrosian, Vasily Smyslov, Mikhail Botvinik, Boris Spassky, Mikhail Tal, Alexander Alekhine, Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov.
