Chess Hall of Famer Eugene Torre's key to success: Love for sports, all undertakings

Filipino chess grandmaster Eugene Torre offered a piece of advice to those who aspire to trek the same path as him, or to those who simply want to excel in their chosen career. 

Torre, who recently penned history as the first male Asian player to be inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame of the World Chess Federation (FIDE), said that the key to success, whether you’re in the field of sports or not, is to take everything you do to heart. 

Then everything else will follow. 

“The key is the love for the sports but actually it’s not only for the sports but as well as all your undertakings,” Torre said in a mix of Filipino and English in Chino Trinidad's '24 Oras' report on Wednesday.

The 69-year-old chess champion and a former business administration undergraduate from Mapúa University is no stranger to hardships. 

According to him, before he became the man that he is today, he had to overcome a series of challenges and that his feats such as a silver-medal finish in the 21st Chess Olympiad in France in 1974 and his accomplishment as the only player to beat the great Anatoly Karpov in 976 were no picnic.

Now a household name in the sport, Torre wants to pass on the torch to the next generation while saying that the youth should contribute more to the positives in society.

“You know, in chess, especially towards the endgame, your moves should be more precise,” Torre, a holder of record 23 appearances in the World Chess Olympiad, added.

“Make your best effort. Even with the little things that we can contribute, we can add to the positives.” —Bea Micaller/JMB, GMA News