Photo by Stephanie C. Gorospe
EACH ATHLETE has their own stage where they make a claim to fame: volleyball players have the court, tennis players have the lawn and billiard players have their table. For Jan Emmanuel Garcia, it’s the checkered board—the arena where he’s been making his mark as a member of the Ateneo men’s chess team.
At the age of four, Garcia was enrolled in a Milo chess clinic after his parents found him moving the pieces on a chessboard just for fun. Since then, he has neither stopped playing nor stopped progressing. Garcia’s prowess as a chess player helped him receive a scholarship for his grade school education in San Beda, where he became the Palarong Pambansa champion from the years 2004 to 2006.
He later on moved to the Ateneo High School after a chance encounter saw him nearly best the head coach of the Ateneo Junior Booters. By then, Garcia had achieved the level of International Master, which is only one level behind Grandmaster, the highest level in the world. At the age of 15, he also became a member of the national team.
Although he is not able to attend practices as often due to the demands of being a management information systems freshman, Garcia’s love for the game is still as strong as ever. His favorite piece is the queen because she does everything to protect her king— the same way he says he would do anything to stay with the sport he loves.
“Malaki ‘yung halaga sa akin. Kasi diba Philippine team ako, eh hindi na ako gaano nakakalaro kasi school. ‘Yun ang mahirap kasi gusto na akong tanggalin pero gusto ko pa rin talaga maglaro. (It means a lot to me. I’m in the Philippine team, but I can’t really play because of academics. It’s hard because they want to take me out but I still want to play.),” shares Garcia.
Despite his absence in practice, his teammates have nothing but kind words for him. “Siya pa lang nakakatalo ng coach namin at pinepep-talk niya kami pag talo kami kahit rookie lang siya. (He is the only one so far who was able to beat our coach, and he gives us pep talks when we lose to him despite him being only a rookie.),” shares teammate Lance Sese.
Team Captain Hanz Cheng also praises the rookie, saying, “Magaling talaga siya. Wala talaga akong masabi, magaling lang talaga siya. Kahit si coach, nahihirapan talunin siya pag naglalaro sila. (He’s really good. I can’t say anything except that he is really good. Even our coach has difficulty beating him when they play.)”
Garcia’s success on the board is a result of his patience, the way he takes each piece and scrutinizes the odds of every move. Garcia says, however, that his weakness is not taking risks and setting for draws instead. One of his most memorable experiences was a game he had against an opponent from Mongolia. “We played for six hours and had about 100 plus moves in total but it ended up in a draw,” recalls Garcia.
Without a doubt, Garcia is bound to make a name for himself with the Ateneo Woodpushers. In fact, he has not lost a single game in UAAP Season 75.
