He first played chess in 1963 when Tigran Petrosian
was world champion. He participated in many out-of-town competitions three
years after until 1966 when Petrosian was already 36 years old. After failing
to dethrone Petrosian in 1966, Boris Spassky, 26, described his older opponent
as, "first and foremost a stupendous tactician.” In chess, unlike
in physical sports, like in love, age doesn’t matter. As long as dementia do
not get you.
Marcelo “Boyet” Abeleda, Occidental Mindoro’s
monster chess player is now 66. He is the Last of the Mohicans, so to speak, in
our local chess landscape. Other pioneers are either by now at the bosom of the
Heavenly King, lived somewhere or already gone nuts. (Yes there is one mentally
challenged person roaming around San Jose that was once a maestro de ajedres
in the locality. But I won’t elaborate any further to keep respect to his
privacy. )
Playing for nearly 6 decades, Boyet Abeleda is
breathing chess. There is chess in his cigarettes and also in his dreams. Even
coming from family of prominent politicians, joining politics never entered his
mind. He preferred to display his tactics in the chess board rather than the
political war room. To him, chess is the most dignifying thing in the world.
Anything not related to chess are just icings. It is his main dough. Chess is
his life and at times, his financial resource. Chess is to him is science, art
and sport, rolled into one, paraphrasing Anatoly Karpov.
According to him, he garnered 1810 Elo rating. A
player's Elo rating is represented by a number which increases or decreases
depending on the outcome of games between rated players. But as a young
enthusiast, he had been a constant feature in the downtown of Pandurucan,
especially in barbershops, billiard halls and the rest. Glued to this game,
chess made him intellectually independent. In 1969, he became a national player
when he joined a national competition held at La Salle Lipa in Batangas.
His most unforgettable feat came in 1987. The only
player coming from Occidental Mindoro, out of more than 4 hundred participants
in the National Capital Region (NCR), he placed 7th in the over-all. It was a
national tournament. But he was not able to reach the finals and failed to join
the elite group coming from Luzon, the NCR itself, Visayas and Mindanao. The
tournament was held in the now site of the Coastal Mall along Roxas Boulevard
in Pasay City.
He said his love of chess was influenced by a
certain Emilio T. Villamar III, nicknamed Baby, one of the pioneering players
in Southern Mindoro along with the late Raul Jimenez and the all-around
sportsman Ronnie Carlos.
Tatay Boyet, as he is fondly called by the younger co-members of the Occidental Mindoro Chess Academy (OMCA), hopes that through the present loaded activities of the OMCA and its officers, the province will produce lot of masters or Grand Masters in the future. He also involved himself in tutoring young players whenever there is a competition participated by his Alma Mater, the Divine Word College of San Jose. He shares his talent to everybody specially the young. Though he already loose many of his teeth, he is a saber-toothed tiger when he moves.
Marcelo Abeleda never been ranked by the Philippine
Chess Federation as Grand Master but he is certainly the Grand Ole Man in
Occidental Mindoro chess history.
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Photo courtesy of Emmanuel Bandelaria Asi
of OMCA. Shown in the picture above are L to R, Marcelo “Boyet” Abeleda, Mr.
Renato Gatuz, President of OMCA and SB Ana Barrera-Sembillo of Magsaysay. This
was taken during the Awarding Ceremonies of the Mayor Eleonor Barrera Fajardo
Chess Tournament held in said Municipality recently.
