Tumbaga memories.
I’d like to introduce BW readers to Mr. Eliseo Tumbaga. He has been a journalist and then later an entrepreneur, corporate executive and business consultant for the past 43 years.
As regards, chess he is a FIDE-licensed trainer with rank of National Instructor and secretary of the Professional Chess Trainers Association of the Philippines. Eli is also the founder and admin of the Facebook group Chess News Views, which I urge all our readers to join.
It was in his Facebook page that I learned several months ago that chess legend GM William Lombardy was facing imminent eviction from his New York City home of the past 30 years due to rent in arrears.
William Lombardy was one of the best players in the USA during the 50’s and 60’s. He won the 1957 World Junior Championship with a perfect 11-0 score (one of his victims was Rudy Tan Cardoso), a record that stands to this day.
In 1967, he was ordained a Roman Catholic priest but left the priesthood in the 80’s to get married and have a son. His main claim to fame was for being the coach and second of Bobby Fischer from the time Bobby was 11 years old all the way up to the 1972 World Championship match with Boris Spassky. It is said that Lombardy was a key figure in keeping Fischer in Reykjavik despite several threats to withdraw and to finish the match victoriously.
Mr. Tumbaga reported that Lombardy’s problem with the rent was solved when a generous family in the Chicago area offered to let him move in with them. Eli then shared some of his memories of William Lombardy when he came to Manila to participate in the 1973 Manila International, the very first attempt of the Philippines to organize a big international tournament. In the 1960s, Meralco organized tournaments with guest grandmasters, even bringing in Bobby Fischer once, but in the 1970s, Mr. Florencio Campomanes started organizing big international tournaments in the Philippines, and even made the impossible dream come true of having a chess Olympiad brought to Manila shores in 1992.
That was still many years away. With the chess popularity after the 1972 match of the century between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky “Campo” invited world championship candidate Bent Larsen, top players from world powers Yugoslavia, USA and Argentina and some more other European players to come to the Philippines and play in the inaugural Manila International Chess tournament. The players were to be wined and dined and treated like kings, even brought to Malacañan Palace where President Ferdinand Marcos feted them.
Eli Tumbaga’s memories:
“I had the pleasure of meeting GM Lombardy in 1973 when I was just starting out as a 19-year-old sportswriter with The Times Journal one of the three leading English-language newspapers in the Philippines.
“Early one morning, before 7 o’clock, I went to the Manila International Airport to meet GM Lombardy and GM Lubomir Kavalek. They were arriving from San Francisco to take part in the Manila International Chess Championship and I was assigned by my editor to interview them.
“When I arrived at the airport, Mr. Florencio Campomanes was already there waiting for the two GMs. As you know, he always wanted to be in control of any situation and I think he was annoyed that I was going to interview them. Mrs. Irina Kavalek arrived with them, by the way, and the Times Journal photographer was also there. Campo couldn’t say directly that interviews were banned but his glare said it all. He couldn’t box me out totally because there were three visitors and I was able to interview them in round-robin fashion as they were walking towards Immigration desk and then to the exit.
“In the evening, the two American GMs conducted a simultaneous exhibition and my boss managed to get a seat for me. I was assigned to Kavalek, who had acted as Fischer’s second in the second half of the match with Spassky after Fischer had a disagreement with Lombardy.
“The simuls were held at the penthouse of the Manila Bank building on Ayala Avenue which is now the head office of China Bank Savings. Manila Bank was owned by the Puyat family and Lito Puyat, president of the Basketball Association of the Philippines at the time, invited them to watch a basketball game at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum after the conclusion of their joint exhibition.
“As it turned out, I was the last man standing among the chess amateurs who showed up that evening. No one anticipated that I would put up stiff resistance against GM Kavalek. Because our game was taking too long, the visitors were in danger of missing the basketball game altogether. At one point, GM Lombardy said to GM Kavalek in a loud stage whisper: Give him a draw so we can watch the ballgame!
“GM Kavalek ignored the plea. I played the Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian Defense against him, not knowing that he was one of the foremost experts in the world on that opening, and I was holding my own deep into the middlegame.
Perhaps GM Kavalek considered it a matter of honor not to concede a draw in his area of expertise to an unknown amateur, who only a few months before had played in the national junior championship — his first tournament.
I lost the match eventually but I wasn’t unhappy about it. I learned later that the visiting grandmasters arrived at the basketball venue with just minutes remaining in the game.
“In the evening, I was worried that Campo might still be mad at me. But he kept a poker face and then turned on the charm when the simuls were about to begin. When I was the only one left playing, I saw him with a wide grin beside GM Lombardy. They stood behind GM Kavalek, looking at the position on the board with much interest. I think he was telling GM Lombardy that I was one of the products of his junior tournaments in the Philippines. By the time my match with GM Kavalek was finished, I think I had been forgiven for my transgression in the morning.
“A few days later, my editor, Gus Villanueva, told me that Campo called and had some nice words about my play.
“It was certainly one of my most memorable experiences as a chess player who had never before played a GM. The Philippines — and the whole of Asia — did not have a GM yet at the time. Eugene Torre got his GM title the following year, after the World Chess Olympiad in Nice, France. Sadly, I lost the scoresheet as I kept moving from place to place.
“I certainly hope that our chess-playing friends in Chicagoland, particularly IM Angelo Young and Florentino Inumerable, will find the time to welcome GM Lombardy to his new place of residence.”
Manila 1973
Final Standings
1. GM Bent Larsen DEN 2620, 12.5/15
2. GM Ljubomir Ljubojevic YUG 2565, 11.5/15
3. GM Lubomir Kavalek USA 2565, 11.0/15
4. GM Svetozar Gligoric YUG 2595, 9.5/15
5-6. GM William Lombardy USA 2520, GM Florin Gheorghiu ROM 2550, 9.0/15
7-8. IM Stefano Tatai ITA 2430, GM Borislav Ivkov YUG 2520, 8.5/15
9-10. GM Miguel Najdorf ARG 2525, GM Miguel Angel Quinteros ARG 2520, 8.0/15
11-12. IM Eugenio Torre PHI 2430, IM Rodolfo Tan Cardoso PHI 2375, 6.5/15
13. IM Renato Naranja PHI 2420, 4.5/15
14. NM Edgar de Castro PHI 2285, 4.0/15
15-16. IM Max Arie Wotulo INA 2330, IM Haji Ardiansyah INA 2350, 1.5/15
Manila 1973 was among the strongest international tournaments in 1973. GM William Lombardy finished fifth and won the $1,000 “Brilliancy Prize” for the following game (also in the Najdorf Variation).
* * *
Lombardy, William James (2520) — Quinteros, Miguel Angel (2520) [B99]
Manila (13), 03.11.1973
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Be7 8.Qf3 h6 9.Bh4 Qc7 10.0 — 0 — 0 Nbd7 11.Be2
The bishop goes to e2 to support the g2 — g4 pawn push. If he pushes the pawn now Black has 11.g4? g5! 12.fxg5 Ne5 13.Qg3 Nfxg4 14.gxh6 Bxh4 15.Qxh4 Qe7 the second player is doing very well.
11…Rb8
Removing the rook from the long diagonal in anticipation of the e4-e5 pawn push by White.
12.Qg3
Attacking g7 and also threatening Nxe6
12…Rg8 13.Rhf1!
GM Lombardy had been writing a book on the 1973 USA Championship and had studied intensively this move, which John Grefe used with deadly effect against Walter Browne in the 1973 USA Championship.
13…b5
The Grefe game continued 13…g5 14.fxg5 Ne5 15.Nf3! b5 16.Nxe5 b4 17.Nxf7! bxc3 18.gxf6! Rxg3 19.fxe7 Rg5 20.Bxg5 hxg5 21.Nxd6+ 1 — 0 Grefe,J (2200)-Browne,W (2530) El Paso 1973.
14.Nxe6!?
Lombardy took an hour before deciding on the text move. Actually, recent analysis has shown that a better way to continue is 14.Bxf6! Bxf6 (14…Nxf6 15.e5 dxe5 16.fxe5 Nd7 17.Nd5! exd5 18.Bh5 Bg5+ 19.Kb1 Rf8 20.Rxf7! too much!) 15.f5 Bxd4 (15…Nc5 16.fxe6 Bg5+ 17.Kb1 Bxe6 18.Nxe6 Nxe6 19.Nd5 Qc5 20.h4 Be7 21.Bg4 White just has too many threats and he has not even sacrificed anything) 16.fxe6 fxe6 17.Bh5+ Kd8 18.Rxd4 b4 19.Ne2 Rb5 20.Qg6 Qc5 21.Qxe6 Nf6 22.Qb3 Qxh5 23.Rxf6 White has a decisive advantage.
14…fxe6 15.Qg6+ Kd8
[15…Kf8 16.e5 dxe5 17.f5 (threat is Bh5) 17…e4 18.Bxf6 gxf6 (18…Nxf6 19.Bh5) 19.Qxh6+ Rg7 20.fxe6 followed by Nd5]
16.e5 dxe5
POSITION AFTER 16…DXE5
17.f5!?
During the time of this game Lombardy’s 17.f5 was hailed as a brilliant solution, but in the light of the Black defense pointed out later it appears that 17.Qf7 is more correct. 17…Re8 18.Qxg7 Nd5 19.Bh5 Bxh4 20.Bxe8 N7b6 21.Qxh6 Qe7 22.Ne4! Kxe8 23.fxe5 Kd8 24.g3 White’s material advantage will win the game for him.
17…exf5 18.Bxf6 Bxf6 19.Nd5 Qc6! 20.Rxf5 Rf8 21.Bg4 Rb6?
The losing move. Black can still miraculously hold the position with 21…Qe6! after best play 22.Rf3 (22.Rxf6? Rxf6! tables are turned and it is now Black who is winning) 22…Qe8 23.Qe4 Bg5+ 24.Kb1 Rxf3 25.Qxf3 Qf8 it looks like the worst is over for Black.
22.Rxf6! gxf6
22…Rxf6? 23.Qxg7 Re6 24.Qf7 there doesn’t seem to be anything Black can do. If 24…Qd6 then 25.Nxb6 Qxb6 26.Bxe6 Qc6 27.Qf8+ Kc7 28.Qe7 e4 29.Bf5 a5 30.Bxe4 Qb6 31.Bf5.
23.Qg7 Rb7
[23…Re8 24.Nxb6 Re7 25.Qg8+ Re8 26.Bxd7!]
24.Qe7# 1 — 0
A nice finish.
Bobby Ang is a founding member of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) and its first Executive Director. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), he taught accounting in the University of Santo Tomas (UST) for 25 years and is currently Chief Audit Executive of the Equicom Group of Companies.
