MANILA, 19 September 2003 — This piece of advice from Grandmaster Joey Antonio is for GM-candidate Mark Paragua: go search for your dreams in Europe.
Antonio, the country’s third grandmaster, said it’s better for the 18-year-old Paragua, easily the country’s most promising chess player today, to compete in tougher tournaments in his bid to claim his full GM norm.
The European tour will help a lot in pumping up Paragua’s confidence as he prepares for the Vietnam Southeast Asian Games in December, according to Antonio.
Antonio is one of the three living Filipino GMs, the others being Eugene Torre and Bong Villamayor.
Many chess experts believe in a year, Paragua could become the Philippines’ next grandmaster, and in two years, he could even break the Super Grandmaster barrier.
Paragua himself is confident the grandmaster norm is “within his reach”.
As a matter of fact, he is giving himself a year to become the country’s fifth grandmaster.
But this early, his coaches are predicting the young woodpusher could even break the Super Grandmaster barrier in two years.
Antonio pointed out most highly-rated grandmasters skip Open chess tournaments outside Europe that’s why it would take a longer time for Paragua to get the two GM norms he needs if he keep competing here.
“Exposure wise, Mark will benefit from these tournaments because it is still an international exposure where grandmasters are also taking part. But still, it is much better if he competes in invitational round-robin tournaments in Europe,” Antonio said.
Antonio said invitational tournaments feature as many as 20 grandmasters. This will give Paragua the chance to square off with some of the world’s top European chessers and it would bolster his search for his grandmaster norm. In the Open tournament, chances of figuring against grandmasters are infrequent since the scheduled opponent for the next day is based on the result of the previous round.
Paragua captured the XV Open Cannes International Chess Championships crown early last month in Cannes, France, before finishing in joint second place in tournaments like the Open Internacional de Solsona and XIII Memorial “Sergio Guillen” Madrid, Spain.
Paragua, who travels with IM Jayson Gonzales and Joseph Sanchez, is using the Europe tour as part of his preparation for the SEAG in Vietnam.
Paragua had moved four points shy from his Grandmaster dream last year.
After a strong fifth-place finish in last year’s World Youth Chess Championships held in Crete, Greece, Paragua earned additional points to top his Bled Olympiad production that gained him 20 rating points.
Paragua accepted a second draw offer in the final round with GM Berkes Ferenc of Hungary for fifth place in the premier Under-18 category. “With the way he is playing and if given proper support, Mark can easily reach 2520 by April 2003, then 2550 in July and achieve Super GM status by January 2004,” Paragua’s coach, NM Joseph Sanchez, predicted.
Paragua, who at 15 became the country’s youngest international master, has already dislodged Bong Villamayor, the country’s fourth grandmaster, for third place in the last FIDE rankings.
From sixth place, Paragua found himself moving up to third behind GMs Joey Antonio and Eugene Torre after finishing tied from third to fifth place in the World Youth Championships last November in Verakilo, Crete, Greek.
He registered a total of 2504 in the FIDE ratings after ending up tied for 11th to 16th in the World Juniors in Goa, India last month. “I am very satisfied with my performance since this year’s entry is much stronger compared to previous World Youth Championships,” said Paragua, who is featured in GM Eugene Torre’s latest chess book The Next Wave: Rising Stars of Philippine Chess. Playing white, the Filipino junior champion assessed the final position to be roughly equal and decided not to risk, giving the Hungarian GM the needed half point to clinch his first World Youth Championship title after aspiring for 10 years.
“My only disappointment is it seems that they don’t recognize my performances. In Armenia, for instance, their representative Tigran Petrosyan who tied with me and who is not even an IM claimed that he will be awarded a house and lot plus a car for his third place finish. I could not believe but it’s true,” said Paragua whose laptop computer broke down at the Bled Olympiad.
He also had to rely on his chess books and borrow some of his friends’ laptop computer for his preparation in the World Youth in Greece. Interestingly, Paragua, a former World Under-14 rapid champion, is giving himself another year to become a grandmaster before he resumes his studies again.
The recent FIDE rankings is inspiring Paragua and his father, Ric, to improve his standings in the local chess scene by participating in more major tournaments abroad.
While a scholarship offer from University of Santo Tomas awaits the 17-year-old GM candidate, his father said this will have to wait as his son evaluates his priorities for the rest of 2003.
His bid to move up the ladder in the local rankings resumes this Jan. 25 when he plays in a closed GM tournament in Bermuda.
“Let’s give Mak-Mak one more year for him to achieve his goal, which is to become a grandmaster, before he resumes his studies,” said Ric. Antonio, who saw action with Torre in the World Olympiad in Slovenia, is on top of the local rankings with an ELO of 2521 after carrying the Philippines to 42nd position.
