Jose Rizal - a Chess Player in Dapitan

Jose Rizal is a Chess Player! In his novels, Rizal showed his knowledge of the game of chess when he described a chess game and how the pieces moved for an attack. Rizal vividly described the game in Chapter XXIV of the Noli Me Tangere. It is as if I was watching the game being played. Rizal made chess more popular by including the game in his novel.

Learn how to play chess like Rizal.  He also played chess when he was exiled to Dapitan. In a recent documentary by GMA 7, it was shown that Rizal played chess with a friend and fellow Atenean Don Mariano Hamoy in Dapitan. A portion of the documentary revealed that Rizal played chess whenever he has the time during his exile. This part of the documentary is significant because it is another piece of evidence that chess is the game of choice for our national hero. Rizal considered chess as a game worthy of his very precious time.

Why Rizal considered playing chess? There are many ways Rizal could have spent his time in Dapitan. Rizal spent his valuable time in Dapitan doing things that benefited the area. Rizal engaged himself in several projects that helped the community in Dapitan. But, Rizal continued to play chess as a way of making his mind productive. He played chess instead of engaging in cockfighting and other popular pastimes at that time.

Chess is a game that challenges every analytical mind. It is a game for the inquisitive and for someone who loves solving problems. Chess is not an ordinary board game. To win at chess takes a lot of confidence, concentration and focus. Every move made by your opponent has to be analyzed. Your knowledge of strategy and tactics in a game that imitates war is tested. Patience and your resolve to win, despite a losing position, are necessary to win a chess game.

I recall my visit to the ancestral house of Segunda Katigbak - one of Rizal’s first love.  Rizal is also said to have played chess in the house of Segunda. The chessboard where Rizal played chess during the times he visited Segunda is preserved in that house. I touched the chessboard and imagined Rizal playing chess on that very chessboard. The chess pieces may have been lost, but the chessboard is proof of how our national hero loved to play chess.

During Rizal’s time, chess players may have been more focused on the game. Perhaps, the degree of concentration of the players is deeper. They may have played combinations similar to that of Paul Morphy. Rizal may have played chess moves that are at the level of today’s chess champions. Or Rizal may have been just an amateur chess player. He may be an attacking strategist kind of a player or a defensive tactician.

Without any record of Rizal’s chess game, we will not know his capability or level as a chess player. We will not know whether Rizal plays the Ruy Lopez Opening. We will not know if the Sicilian Defense is also Rizal’s choice against pawn to e4. We do not have any clue how Rizal will play the King’s Indian Defense. However, we can rest assured that Rizal is an avid chess player.

In Chapter XXIV the Noli Me Tangere, Rizal described a game of chess between Basilio and Ibarra. The game is tactical. The tactic may be a “skewer” where a valuable piece is attacked. After that valuable piece moves, another piece can be captured. Aside from the skewer, it is easy to assume that Rizal is also knowledgeable in all other chess tactics such as fork, discovered attack, double check, blockade, decoy, or deflection. But, I think the “pin” is the more popular form of chess tactic that is employed during Rizal’s times. Even today, the pin is a common tactic used by chess players to win a game of chess. The pin is a chess tactic where the particular piece cannot move without allowing a more valuable piece to be captured.

Rizal was exiled to Dapitan from July 17, 1892, to July 31, 1896. During those four years and thirteen days when Rizal stayed in Dapitan, chess was one of the ways Rizal conquered sadness and loneliness during his exile. Rizal, during those times when he felt alone and betrayed, turned to chess to let his creative and inquisitive mind run free. 

While playing chess in Dapitan, Rizal is always reminded that superiority in materials is an important factor in winning a war. This is perhaps the reason why Rizal opposed the planned revolution against Spain when he was visited in Dapitan by Bonifacio’s emissary Pio Valenzuela on June 21, 1896. Rizal as a chess player was able to evaluate the inferior position of the Filipino revolutionists against the Spaniards. Due to this fact, Rizal thought that Bonifacio and his men should adopt another strategy if they want to win against the Spaniards.

Jose Rizal is a master strategist and tactician. He is not only a National Hero of the Philippines. Rizal loved playing chess.