Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Philippine Chess: Wesley So wants to be out!

English: Wesley So, chess grandmaster from the...
English: Wesley So, chess grandmaster from the Philippines (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The country is standing to lose its best chess player to the United States Federation.  Wesley So is asking to be released from the National Chess Federation of the Philippines in order to play for the USA.

So wanted to defect just ahead of the 41st World Chess Olympiad.  Without him, the Philippines ranked a dismal 46th.  Wesley So has an ELO rating of 2755 which is the highest rating ever for a Filipino and he is currently ranked 12th in the world. In 2012, the Philippines finished 21st with So bannering team.

What does this mean?  Well, the Philippines is standing to lose its best player.  It is like Lebron James defecting to the Philippines to play for Gilas and not Team USA.   It is quiet painful to see that happen.  A lot of Filipino chess enthusiasts is shock of this development.

Well, in a way it serves us right.  Chess has never been a priority sport in this country.  Only a few cover chess and gone are the days that Eugene Torre and Rogelio Antonio were treated like stars.  There was actually a time that our country was a major chess destination in Asia. Now, the Chinese, Indians, and Vietnamese dominate the Asian scene.

With the loss of our best player, it will take years for us to at least be relevant even in the Asian level. Are we even developing young chess talent? Do we have meaningful tournaments here? I can't blame Wesley for seeking better opportunities. He plays mostly outside the country and he studies in the USA.

There is no money for chess players here in the country and I think we just to let our best players leave and concentrate on other commercially viable sports like basketball, football, and probably boxing.  The situation sucks but nobody cares anyway. :(