TAGAYTAY City – Veteran IM Chito Garma achieved what many other local players failed to do – beat Asia’s first GM Eugene Torre.
Garma, one of the country’s strongest players who never became a GM, pulled the rug from under Torre to share the lead with Haifa Olympiad veteran NM Cesar Caturla in the fifth round of the 9th Asian Seniors Chess Championship at the Tagaytay International Convention Center here Wednesday.
Garma, a two-time Olympian in Novi Sad 1990 and Manila 1992, defeated Torre in 56 moves of the London opening in a stirring upset that brought to mind similar interesting battles in the past.
The win by Garma snapped Torre’s 12-game winning streak, which included a nine-game sweep of last year’s edition held in Auckland, New Zealand.
