Miciano leads Asian Youth Chess Under-18 with 5/5

MANILA, Philippines – John Marvin Miciano will not be getting his awards in person as the top athlete and honor graduate at the FEU Diliman Senior High School on April 7.

The 17-year-old is now making waves at the Asian Youth Chess Championship in Chiang Mai, Thailand where he has set a hot pace in the premier Under-18 division.

The soft-spoken Miciano has won 5 straight games and leads his closest rival, Omidi Arya of Iran, by one point. Though sparing in words, Miciano has been playing aggressively instead of his usual waiting, positional game.

Xu Zhihang of China chose to resign after 43 moves in the 5th round Wednesday, April 4, despite being ahead on time in a queenless endgame. Awaiting him was Miciano’s  brutal mating attack by his rook and knight, backed up by a passed pawn on the sixth rank at the h-file against Xu’s king,

“Before the tournament, I told him to be brave,” said grandmaster Jayson Gonzales of his top board at the FEU juniors team. “I am glad but there are four rounds to go.” 

Daniel Quizon, the 14-year-old Dasmarinas, Cavite lad who stunned the Vietnamese top seed in the Under-18 plum in the second round, was derailed by a loss in the fourth round. A win in the fifth put him in a tie for third at 3.5 points with four others.

Michael Concio Jr., Quizon’s 13-year-old Dasmarinas teammate who is fielded in the Under-16 division, has three points out five for 14th place. This put him a point behind the four-man leading group.

Mark Jay Bacojo is tied for second with Nguyen Quoc Huy at 3.5 points, half a point behind first place in the Under-12 division.

Twelve players, mostly from Dasmarinas which funded the team, are joining the Asian Youth, which runs April 10. This is the first time some members of the Philippine squad that won the Asean Age Group title last year are meeting the Vietnamese.

Vietnam, the strongest chess country in Southeast Asia, did not send a full team to the 2017 Asean Age Group, allowing the Philippines to capture the overall title for the first time. – Rappler.com