Pinoy teen bags 5 medals in Southeast Asian age-group tournament

INTERNATIONAL Master John Marvin Miciano secured 5 medals in the 20th ASEAN Age Group Chess Championships in Mandalay, Myanmar, including a gold in the blitz team event.

Miciano won a silver in the standard event after piling 7.5 points in 9 rounds behind champion IM Anh Khoi Nguyen of Vietnam.

The Asian Youth 18-under chess champion then joined forces with fellow Pinoy youth players Melito Ocsan Jr. and John Merill Jacutina to seal the team silver in the same event.

The same trio then delivered in the blitz team event with a gold medal after dropping powerhouse Vietnam.

“While it’s nice to win as many medals as I can, my real objective is to earn a GM norm to boost my quest to become a grandmaster,” said Miciano, who will be named Davao City’s male athlete of the year in the So Kim Cheng Awards of the Davao City Sports Council on July 26.

Miciano, seeking his first of 3 GM norms, also brought home a bronze in individual blitz and another silver in the team rapid with Jacutina and Ocsan.

After becoming a national master as a 16-year-old, Miciano was named Fide master the following year before the World Chess Federation granted him the IM title for winning the 2018 Asian Youth U-18 Chess Championships in Thailand.

He will need 3 GM norms and a Fide rating of 2500 to become a grandmaster. ABSCBN News