WORLD CLASS
Dabawenyo international master (IM) John Marvin Miciano puts up an impressive finish in the World Youth Chess Championships 2018 in Greece
Davao City’s international master (IM) John Marvin Miciano finished 37th in the 98-player field of the World Youth Chess Championships 2018 boys under 18 standard division that closed in Greece recently.
Miciano, 17, a Far Eastern University chess varsity scholar, earned six points in the 11-round Swiss System format competition participated in by top youth chessers from 80 countries.
Tenth-seed IM Viktor Gazik of Slovakia captured the gold medal after tallying 8.5 points while 17th-seed IM Igor Janik and 19th-seed Im Szymon Gumularz scored identical eight points to grab the next two medals.
Miciano, seeded 28th, outclassed rivals American candidate master Albert Liang, Fide master Jiri Liska of Czech Republic and FM Jasper Beukema of Belgium in the first, fifth and seventh rounds, respectively.
The Dabawenyo, only child of only child of Juanito, a certified public accountant and a businessman, and Ma. Teresa, also drew with Dimitris Alexakis of Greece, FM Shaked Tifferet of Israel, CM Le Minh Hoang of Vietnam, IM Tran Minh Thang of Vietnam, IM Adham Kandil of Egypt and Renzo Jhonathan Rengifo of Peru.
He, however, lost to fifthseed grand master Luca Moroni, Jr. of Italy and ninth-seed IM Aryan Gholami of Iran in the second and ninth rounds, respectively.
Miciano was the only Filipino entered in the tournament.
His father Juanito said, “Nag-qualify po si Marvin dahil sya nag-champion sa Asian Youth Chess Championship (AYCC) sa Thailand last April.”
He earned his national master (NM) title at age 16 and his FM and IM titles at 17. The latter was earned after topping the boys open under-18 event of the AYCC.