'Pinoy chessers' notoriety known in New York'

"Chess first of all teaches you to be objective." 
-- Alexander Alekhine

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- In any chess hub in New York City today, Filipinos are "notoriously" known for their resilience and unorthodox talent in the long game, rapid and blitz chess. 
Both masters and non-masters in Westport, Bryant Park, Bronx, Queens and Manhattan reportedly avoid them like the plague.

GALINEA'S TEAM

Camelo "Jun" Galinea, president and founder of Elmhurst Chess Club in Queens, said two of the biggest names that sent shock waves in New York chess these past years were Philippine grandmasters Oliver Barbosa and Mark Paragua, now based here working as chess tutors in Manhattan.
"When chess players from different races spotted Oliver and Mark, they slowly scampered away," observed Galinea, 60, who converted his condo unit on corner Ketcham-Elmhurst streets in Queens into regular watering hole for chess habitues every Monday evening. 

PARTICIPANT

Galinea, a self-taught woodpusher and regular participant in the Commercial Chess League of New York, said the two Filipino grandmasters are unbeatable in blitz chess. 
"They can easily beat to the pulp all the chess hustlers anywhere in New York," Galinea disclosed. "Pati ang ibang Filipino nadadamay. I mean, even if other Filipinos are non-masters or ordinary players, other races think they, too, are good thus they were also being avoided." 
Galinea said he heard that the chess club founded by the Hungarian-born Polgar sisters, GMs Susan, Sofia and Judit in Bronx, had been closed because of the Filipino chess hustlers. He did not elaborate.
Barbosa, 29, (FIDE rating 2517) won the recent 10th Parsvnath International Grandmasters Tournament in New Delhi.
Paragua, 32, (FIDE rating 2510), represented the Philippines in World Chess Olympiad four times (2002, 2004, 2006, 2012).  He became the Philippines' youngest GM at 20.

SUPER

The third gigantic name in New York is super-GM Wisley So (FIDE rating 2773). He is currently ranked No. 10 in the world. 
So, 22, based in St. Louis, Missouri and now representing the United States,  won the Bilbao Chess Masters Final in Bilbao, Spain in November last year. He recently beat former world champion Garri Kasparov in blitz game.
In Elmhurst park, So accepted the challenge of other nationals, giving away four minutes in a five-minute blitz. "Still, So managed to whip them all even if he agreed to have only one minute as against his opponents' five," Galinea narrated.
In Galinea's condo unit, wife Lucille, 49, a former teacher in Fabrica, Negros Occidental in the Philippines, cooked for Filipino chessers with no major titles.

GALINEA'S PLACE

"They gathered in my house and played chess. We discussed and analyzed the games of grandmasters played in major tournaments as well as our games in the commercial chess league," added Galinea, the "godfather" of Elmhurst Chess Club. "We are like members of one family. Chess has brought us all together."
Cebuano lawyer Gerry Albano became the group's sponsor and gave them cash when they swept the Commercial Chess League of New York in 2015.

TEAM

Among the most talented and winningest chess players in Galinea's team were Rico Salimbagat, a former member of the Scout Ranger in the Philippines; Gilbert Gonzales, Marlo Lina, Anthony Gallon, Leo Gatchalian, Mike Adarlo, Cesar Apalla, Gerson Caballero, Bert Labuac, Bien Villanueva, Andy Punzalan, Leo Buencocillo, Dari Castro, Gerry Gamaro, and Lope Jan Williams.    
When they collected all the major trophies, the players only confirmed the fears of other nationals in New York that Filipino chessers are really a force to reckon with, Galinea concluded.

Elmhurst Park in Queens, New York City.

"Any Filipino who arrives in New York is welcome to play here in Elmhurst. We play for fun. We don't expect to become grandmasters anymore because we are already masters in our own right," declared long-time Elmhurst player Rusty Beof, brother of Sen. Manny Pacquiao's Roman Catholic spiritual adviser, Fr. Marlon Beof.