A PERSONAL ENCOUNTER WITH ANDRONICO YAP

It all started here.


Vigan, Ilocos Sur, Philippines sometime in 1978


As I got down in Vigan from a chartered bus that came from Baguio City, a small  high school boy (or so I thought by his looks) in six inches high Italian clog shoes and bell bottom double knit pants asked me where we were going to stay for the night and for the whole duration of the UAAP North Athletic Meet. I told him here in a high school building where there was no sign it would serve as our dorm.  Cardboard sheets would serve as our beds.  There was no complains from that boy. We set up the rooms, arranged the student chairs as dividers and prepared for that evening event. We exchanged our introduction:  he introduced himself as Boyet,  chess player and I as a member of the tennis team. I did not know then that he was the Andronico Yap, the reigning national junior chess champio until we went back to Baguio City after the athletic meet.


During the meet, he would always tell stories about his games and nothing more.  He was so humble and he seemed to enjoy my company.  A member of UB's basketball team offered Boyet to stay with  him in the hotel but he chose to stay with us.  It turned out that  this basketball player was a certain Mr. Monticello, who many years later became a head coach of the University of Baguio Cardinals and BAP (Basketball Association Of the Philippines ) high ranking officer.


The Chess Club


After the meet, we would always see each other in the University campus and talk about chess and Mr. Bobby Fischer.  Other athletes we met and knew there were the likes of David Carmelo and Willy De la Serna.  David was to become a South East Asian Games Gold and Silver Medalist.  Willy, who became a professional basketball player, played with Purefoods basketball team.


There were other chess players that he met and played with.  On weekdays, we would go to Dainty Restaurant along Session Road. There, old folks of the  "City Chess Club" compete with each other for a bet. Boyet played with them, but only until they found out who he was and we were thrown out of the club.


The Practice


We looked for more playing fields outside Baguio like in the neighboring provinces of  La Union , Pangasinan, Pampanga and Tarlac. Mr. "Bay" Rivero and me acted as his managers and we financed the trips just to give him some exposure and practice.  We did this on weekends, when Boyet was bored and asked us to look for some competition. He was so confident to win the games but it would always be either a loss or a draw. It was just fine because he was sure there would always be someone to compete with again the next time and it was his goal - to practice. Competition then was scarce.


In a few times when boredom struck Boyet, he would go to our house and there he met my family. He would ask for spiritual advice and comfort from my eldest brother.


The last time we traveled together was when we went to Manila,  to see Mr. Campomanes, then the chess federation chief.  I think it was sometime in 1980. I met him at the Baguio PNR bus station early in the morning.  He was wearing a wool coat and pair of leather gloves which he said he wore when he represented the Philippines in a Junior Chess Tournament in Germany.  I was laughing at him because the coat was too big for his small frame and he felt that he was still in Germany.


We missed seeing Mr. Campomanes in his home so we proceeded to visit his grandmother and sister in Quiapo Manila.   I remember we walked along the Quezon Blvd, entered a dark alley, then a dark ground floor of a building turning many times until we reached a small dark room filled with Boyet's trophies.  There I met his family. We did not stay for a long time and we proceeded our way. I believe he went back to the house of Mr. Campomanes while I went back to Baguio.


I did not hear from him for a long time since then.  The next time I heard from him was when he invited me for a drink in Manila, after he won a tournament and getting his National Master. Again I met him for the last time in Baguio when he competed for a tournament that would make him an International Master.


And Now..


I am not sure what prompted me to all of a sudden write a blog about someone I crossed path in the past. I was trying to look for pictures of Boyet on the internet, but there's none. Even his name is not listed in the Wikipedia list of Phil. Chess Masters. I am wondering why and what happened in the later years of his life.