Philippines has newly minted Grandmaster in Daniel Quizon

Men’s and women’s chess teams climb standings

BUDAPEST, Hungary — There will be a million reasons to smile for newly minted Filipino Grandmaster (GM) Daniel Quizon.

The 20-year-old Mr. Quizon became the Philippines’ 17^th GM and the first since Oliver Barbosa and Richard Bitoon achieved the feat 13 years ago after his 37-move win over GM Igor Efimov in a 4-0 decimation of Monaco in Saturday’s fourth round of the 45^th FIDE Chess Olympiad at the cavernous BOK Sports Hall here.

And for that feat, Mr. Quizon stands to receive P1 million from Dasmariñas, Cavite Mayor Jenny Barzaga, who will fulfill the solemn promise made by former Dasmariñas Congressman Pidi Garzaga before he passed away.

“I’m happy to fulfill my dream since I started playing chess,” said Mr. Quizon, whose trip here was financed by the Philippine Sports Commission through chair Richard Bachmann and commissioner Ed Hayco and NCFP head Butch Pichay.

It was a glorious day for Philippine chess overall as its women’s team, spearheaded by the gutsy, giant-slaying Shania Mae Mendoza on top board, blanked El Salvador, 4-0, to stay in medal contention.

Both the men and the women, coached by GMs Eugene Torre and Jayson Gonzales with Atty. Ruel Canobas as delegation head, leapfrogged to a share of 13^th place in a big group with six match points apiece.

Capping the men’s rout were wins by GM Julio Catalino Sadorra and IMs Paulo Bersamina and Jan Emmanuel Garcia while WGM Janelle Mae Frayna and WIMs Jan Jodilyn Fronda and Bernadette Galas delivered the other triumphs for the women’s in the other boards.

It added to the team’s fervor that Mr. Sadorra celebrated his 37^th birthday the same day with a win.

Ms. Mendoza has been a revelation as she has flourished on board one by scoring 3.5 points out four, a performance that surprised the Sta. Rosa, Laguna native herself.

Ms. Mendoza, whose highest board she played in the past Olympiads she’d been board two.

The country shoots for more glory as it tackles 26^th seed Slovenia in the men and 24^th pick Italy in the women in the fifth round.

In the overall race, three Asian teams — India, China and Vietnam — share the lead with five others with perfect records of eight match points.

The Vietnamese, the Southeast Asian kingpins, gatecrashed there by pulling the rug from under defending champion Uzbekistan, 3-1.

It also included war-torn Ukraine, which shocked top seed United States in a 2.5-1.5 result that was sealed, signed and delivered by grizzled vet GM Vasyl Ivanchuk over Cavite-born Wesley So on the second board. — Joey Villar