Oas Chess Prodigy Recalls Beginning, Hurdles Before His Bangkok Championship

𝗕𝗬 𝗗𝗘𝗡𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗚𝗢𝗗𝗘𝗭𝗔𝗡𝗢

It was raining heavily when it all started in 2019.

Bince Operiano, five years old back then, was playing inside their small home made of bamboo and nipa in Busac village, near a bridge in Oas town in Albay. He couldn’t go outside to play because the rain was substantial, and it could get him sick.

Thereafter, his father arrived with a chessboard he bought in downtown Polangui. Since that day, Bince and his little brother’s curiosity made them play chess together with their father. It started as a random pastime in a wooden-floor home next to a riverbank. Little did they know, the chess board bought on a rainy day would bring them to Bangkok for an international chess tournament four years later.

Bince, 9, from San Isidro Elementary School in Oas, topped the under-10 years old category in the recent 6th Eastern Asia Youth Chess Championship held in Bangkok, Thailand. The chess prodigy qualified for the international tournament after winning the National Youth and Schools Chess Championship in Zamboanga del Norte in September.

But beyond the golden facade lies the struggle of a kid who saw the ill of Philippine sports at a very young age.


“Sisipagan mo lang yung pagsolicit para di ka nawawalan ng pag asa. Saka lagi lang mapagkumbaba. Di ka nagrereklamo. Kapag kung ano naman tumutulong pa rin yung government pero depende. Depende pa rin sa pamumuhay niyo pero kung di naman kayo kilala ang hirap nun eh,” said Ben Operiano, 36, father of Bince.

Sponsorships and limited government support have helped them to fund their trip to Bangkok but he said it wasn’t an easy journey. Before that support, they were in debt because they also needed to fund Bince’s training.

Ben shared how compadre politics persists even in sports though he said he doesn’t want to talk more about it to avoid conflicts and prefers to stay silent.

“Kung minsan kasi ayaw ko nang magsalita sa ganyan kasi kapag nagsalita ka ng ano marami kang makakalaban kaya tahimik na lang,” said Ben.


According to his father, Bince played countless tournaments locally before he even reached the international tournament. Aside from the Bangkok win, the most memorable match for them was the very first time they joined a tournament in Albay Astrodome at the age of six and won the national age group category eight. Then, the pandemic struck.

The family struggled with joining online competitions, which have become the avenue to continue chess during the lockdown. But without mobile devices and an internet connection, Bince could not consistently participate.

“Kaya ang experience namin noon sa online, wala kaming laptop, wala rin kaming cellphone. Cellphone, ngayon lang din kami nakabili ng cellphone. Kaya napakahirap. Manghihiram ka. Magrerent ka. Naglalaro kami sa computer shop,” said Ben.

He also said that they had to pay yearly membership fee to the National Chess Federation of the Philippines to be qualified and recognized in joining national tournaments and even international games.


“Sila ang nagfafacilitate at nagpapalaro ng laro para makasali kami at papuntahin mga taga ibang bansa kasi dadaan kami ng pre-elimination, elimination, semi-finals. Madami ka talagang pagdadaanan bago ka makapaglaro ng ibang bansa,” he said.

Ben said that the news circulating that they slept on airport benches was not true.