IN sports, what do you do after you’ve done it all?

Where do you go after you’ve already achieved most of your goals when most players are just setting out on theirs?

Where do you go after you’ve got where you’ve always wanted to be?

Asia’s first GM Eugene Torre is one of the few athletes who have done enough to reach the pantheon of the all-time Filipino greats in the wonderful world of sports.

His name always comes up in any conversation of the greatest Filipino athletes ever. Sports fans talk about Flash Elorde, Manny Pacquiao, Paeng Nepomuceno, Bong Coo, Efren “Bata” Reyes, Tac Padilla, Elma Muros-Posadas, Hidilyn Diaz.

And of course, Torre.

In 1974, he became not just the first Filipino but also the first Asian to earn a grandmaster title at 22 years old, after winning the silver medal in the 21st Chess Olympiad in Nice, France.

Now 71, he is still the most recognizable and most influential figure in Philippine chess.

Before GM Wesley So, there was Eugene Torre.

He is considered as one of the strongest chess players the country ever produced during the 1980s and 1990s.

He played for the Philippines on board one in 17 Chess Olympiads.

Two years ago, Torre was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame in St. Louis, Missouri.

And Torre bless his heart is still with us and doing what he does best. He is not one who will sit back and bask on his old glory in a room filled with trophies and medals and surrounded by old photographs and yellowed newspaper clippings.

Torre is still at the forefront of local chess. He provides inspiration to young ones to take up the sport and give encouragement to the young once to continue to play the game.

“Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, once compared chess to life and talked about the three morals of chess: foresight, circumspection and caution, which are all necessary to succeed in life,” Torre once said.

On March 26, Torre will be at the Robinsons Townville in Buhay na Tubig, Imus, Cavite to lend his name to the staging of the first GM Eugene Torre Cup-FIDE Rapid Seniors chess team championships.

The one-day event is a project of the newly-formed Philippine Seniors Chess Association, which Torre himself heads, in cooperation with the Inter-Agency Chess Group, led by Engr. Resito David of Mapua Alumni Association and Chess Education for Age-Group.

Top players 50 years old and above are expected to see action in the tournament sanctioned by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP), headed by Chairman/President Prospero “Butch” Pichay, and supported by Robinsons Malls.

Trophies and cash prizes are at stake in the competition, with the champion getting the lion’s share of P20,000 and the perpetual trophy.

And on May 22, Torre and eight-time Illinois State champion IM Angelo Young will be at the Eulogio Rodriguez Jr. High School in Mayon Ave., Quezon City to conduct simultaneous exhibition matches with select alumni and students.

This will be the second time for Torre, who also conducted simul matches for students in 2018, and this will be the first time for Young, who graduated in the same high school in 1980 and was inducted into the first ERJHS Alumni Sports Hall of Fame back in 2016 with no less Department of Education (DepEd) Underscretary Tonisito Umali in attendance.

The Iloilo-born Torre first conducted simultaneous exhibition matches with alumni and students during the “Isulong Mo with GM Eugene Torre” project organized by the ASC in cooperation with the Meraclo Sports Foundation and Batch 68.

One of the top performers during the four-hour long event was Jerry Labato of the Roberto Castor Rover Scout group.

Torre’s second visit and Young’s homecoming are made possible by the ERJHS Alumni Sports Club, headed by yours truly and Zeny Castor, sister of scouting legend Sct. Roberto Castor, and supported by ERJHS school principal Gina Labor Obierna.

The other ERJHs Alumni Sports Club officers are Neneng Gutierrez, VP for 70s; Imee Gines, VP for 80s; Robert Capistrano, VP for 90s; Oliric Lacsamana, VP for 2000s; Jane Jimenez, secretary; Bess Maghirang, auditor; Melissa Cabalic and Gina delos Santos, PROs; and Roland Doncillo, Ramon Ypil, Albert Andaya, Roy Madayag and Richard Nell, directors.

NOTES — Belated happy birthday to my sportswriter-son, Robert James M. Andaya,and my only grandson, Apollo Nathaniel A. Padilla, who both celebrated last March 8. The twin family celebrations coincided with the 77th birthday of my kumpare, Robert “Big J” Jaworski.

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