Filipino Daniel Quizon achieved his mission to become a grandmaster after defeating GM Igor Efimov on board 2 as part of the Philippines 4-0 win over Monaco in the fourth round of the 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad at BOK Sports Hall in Budapest, Hungary on Saturday.
The 20-year old chess prodigy from Dasmarinas, Cavite becomes the country’s 17th chess grandmaster besting Efimov in 37 moves of a King’s Indian Defense, earning two Elo points to breach the 2500 mark to claim the coveted GM title.
It was 13 long years since the Philippines last earned a GM title in the sport with Oliver Barbosa and Richard Bitoon being the most recent in memory which was in 2011.
In August 2018, Quizon earned the International Master (IM) title after emerging victorious at the Eastern Asian Juniors Open Championships in Gangneung, South Korea with 7.5 points from nine rounds. He also bagged gold in the under-16 standard competition of the Eastern Asia Youth Chess Championships in Bangkok, Thailand in the same year, securing 8.5 points from nine rounds.
Quizon completed the three required GM norms—a high-level of performance in chess tournaments with the first in February 2023 during the AQ Prime ASEAN Chess Championship and the second in December of the same year after winning the Open division title at the Eastern Asia Juniors and Girls Chess Championship.
With this achievement in his career, Quizon is set to receive P1 million from Dasmarinas, Cavite Mayor Jenny Barzaga as promised made by then former Dasmarinas Congressman Pidi Garzaga.
