Then his time came.

After missing a slot for the current World Cup 2007 in Khanty-
Minsk, during the Asian Continental Chess Championship in Cebu, Philippines, last
September 2007, he proceeded to Armenia to compete in the 2007 World Juniors. He
had a great start and was the solo leader by the fifth round, after remarkably
beating GM David Howell. He was still tied for the lead in the sixth round, before
losing to the eventual champion GM Ahmed Adly of Egypt and then to GM Wang Hao of
China in rounds 7 and 8 respectively. But when he beat IM Sasha Kaplan of Israel in
the ninth round, he was able to complete the requirements for a nine-game GM norm.
However, due to fatigue, he would only score 1.5 in the final 4 games, to finish at
20th place. Two months later, before actually the start of the Pichay Cup, there
was a failed coup attempt in Manila led by a former military man, turned rebel and
elected senator, but now a detained prisoner due to his rebellious activities,
Senator Antonio Trillanes IV. But those political distractions did not affected his
focus, as he manages to withstand the pressure of becoming the current youngest
grandmaster in the world. He won his first three games before hanging on to six
straight draws against six GMs to complete the coveted title. He finished 6/9 with
a rating performance 2620 and a share for fifth place behind the chapion Ni Hua of
China.
The Philippines had its glorious past in chess too
GM-elect Wesley So's emergence to prominence might be the needed ingredient to a
renaissance in Philippine chess. During the time of the honorary FIDE president,
Florencio Campomanes, in the 1950s to 1970s, chess in the Philippines reached its
golden age. There were numerous international and local tournaments. The Karpov-
Korchnoi match was even held here in 1978. Imagine, almost two decades before China
produced its first grandmaster the Philippines had GM Eugene Torre, Asia's first
grandmaster, as well as GM Rosendo Balinas. Even the current world champion,
Viswanathan Anand, cannot deny the fact that he learnt the rudiments of chess here
in the Philippines as a young lad, through chess tournaments and the daily
television chess program hosted by GM Torre and Campomanes. Anand's father worked
in Manila, his family stayed here until he was nine years old.
The turning point in the deterioration of chess in the country was when Campomanes
was elected president of FIDE in the 1980s. It was a great honor for us, Filipinos,
but a big sacrifice for Philippine chess. The highly innovative Campomanes would
lead an international chess crusade for less develop countries, for many years. He
would apply that same grass-roots programmes and strategies in organizing and
funding tournaments that he did in home soil. While Campomanes was out, Philippine
chess was simply neglected and politicized by his successors. Add to that, the
political instability led to collapse of the chess programmes. There were a few
sponsors willing to take the cudgels for nationwide development. We had to wait for
almost 20 years before we could produced our next grandmaster, Rogelio Antonio in
1996. By that time China and Anand's India had overshadowed us, in terms of
organization, financing and chess talents. Add, to that the emergence of former
Russian states in Asia.

Inspiring Precedent of GM Darwin Laylo and the challenging future

Before Wesley So the Philippines actually produced a new grandmaster, two months
ago during the Asian Individual Chess Championship in Cebu, Philippines. He is
Darwin Laylo, born from a poor family in Manila (his father is a cycle rickshaw
driver). GM Laylo, who is actually a two-time Philippine Open Champion, was
suspended for one year starting January 2007 by the National Chess Federation of
the Philippines (NCFP), along with promising players like IM Ronald Dableo, who
holds two GM norms, for their alleged game-fixing activities during the GMA Cup in
2006. His suspension was lifted after six months, when the NCFP officials failed to
prove that he indeed committed the alleged offense. Lo and behold, GM Laylo grew
through adversity; he finished seventh place to qualify for the World Cup, breached
the 2500+ mark in the October 2007 FIDE ratings and completed his third and final
GM norm to become a full pledged grandmaster. All of this after losing potential
income from chess, and with his reoutation damaged. He eventually lost to GM
Etienne Bacrot in the first round of the 2007 World Cup, which is incidentally the
same guy that GM-elect Wesley So beat for seventh place among the world youngest
player to achieve the GM Title.
There are other Filipino chess players capable of becoming grandmasters, such as
those who have at least two GM norms: IM Dableo, IM Ronald Salvador (who plays in
Italy), the semi-retired IM Rico Mascari�as, who is now based in Saudi and IM
Rogelio Barcenilla, now US-based. Barcenilla is the former two-time Asian Junior
Chess Champion and has actually gained five GM norms. But FIDE has always denied
his application for GM title.

I have seen other chess playing kids who are capable of beating the best but are
not given the chance to compete aboard. These kids are better than the prodigies in
India or China. We hope that politics and chess would not be mixed together. But
that's how our chess activities are being run. No offense to Mr. Prospero Pichay,
the NCFP President, who is a former congressman and a losing senatorial candidate.
He had done a great job. But what the country needs is a complete chess program
that is sustainable for years to come. I know there are more Wesley Sos in the
Philippines out there.