It was Gov. Ben Cayetano, 56, against Joseph Eligio, 19, president of the Chess Club at Farrington High School, Cayetano's alma mater.
And it was a mismatch that ended yesterday with a laughing Cayetano conceding defeat, as he knew he was about to be checkmated.
The contest at Washington Place highlighted a chess exhibition in which more than 50 chess players from Hawaii public and private schools simultaneously dueled with two mainland chess prodigies, Vinay Bhat, 11, and Jordy Mont-Reynaud, 12. The exhibition was a prelude to the 10-day Hawaii International Chess Tournament, which begins tomorrow at the Ocean Resort Waikiki Hotel.
Eligio used only 90 seconds of his five minutes to defeat Cayetano in the "speed match." Cayetano took four minutes for his moves.
"The kid is gooood," Cayetano remarked.
The soft-spoken Eligio said without a hint of boastfulness: "I could have gotten his queen earlier. But it was for fun and I didn't want to end the game that early."
Eligio, a senior who's been playing chess since the third grade, said he enjoys the game because it forces you to think.
Bill Rodgers, chess coach at Roosevelt High School, said it was apparent from the outset that Eligio had the upper hand against Cayetano. "He had all his heavy artillery - two rooks and his queen attacking (Cayetano's) king.
"Gov. Cayetano had nothing. In fact, he didn't even have a good pawn setup," Rodgers said.