FRESH from bagging his sixth Kidapawan Open Chess title recently, Davao City's international master (IM) Oliver Dimakiling is eyeing his third grand master (GM) norm when he competes in the HD Bank International Open set in Vietnam this week.
He's been a regular campaigner in the annual tournament since 2011.
"Wala pako ka champ kay medyo bug-at ang field. This year si GM Wang Hao ang top seed. Dako ang chance makakuha'g GM norm kay daghang GMs mangapil (I haven't won in this tournament yet due to a very strong field. There's a chance to win a GM norm because there's a lot of GMs also seeing action)," Dimakiling said in a Facebook interview with SunStar Davao.
The event stakes US $16,000 for the champion, thus, a lot of titled chessers around the world usually compete.
Dimakiling only needed one norm to earn a GM title that he has been chasing for several years now.
He got his firm GM norm when he tied for first place in the Malaysian Open in 2006 while the second norm was when he finished runner-up in the Battle of the GMs in Boracay in 2012.
In the 11th Kidapawan Open Chess, top-seed Dimakiling tallied six points to emerge champion while fellow Dabawenyo Fide master (FM) Austin Jacob Literatus edged three other 5.5 pointers GM Darwin Laylo, FM Alekhine Nouri and Cebu NM Edsel Montoya via superior tiebreaks to place second.
Dimakiling said the draws with Laylo and Literatus were his toughest matches during the tournament.