INTERNATIONAL master (IM) John Marvin Miciano failed to earn a grand master (GM) norm but he was satisfied bringing home a total of one gold medal, three silvers and one bronze in the 20th Asean+ Age-Group Chess Championships that closed June 16 in Mandalay City, Myanmar.
Miciano earned seven points to help the Philippines boys under-20 team pocket the boys under-20 blitz team gold medal with a total of 21 points, beating Vietnam (19.5) and Myanmar (15). His teammates candidate master (CM) John Merill Jacutina made 7.5 points while Melito Ocsan, Jr. added 6.5.
The 18-year-old Dabawenyo also salvaged an individual blitz bronze.
Miciano also clinched an individual standard silver as he and his teammates bagged a team silver. The Filipinos also took a team silver in rapid event.
“Although I fell short of my target to get a GM norm, which is at stake only for the champion, I consider this as my best performance for Asean Age Group considering that under 20 is the prime category. I still have one more year, next 2020, to join this championship and hope to improve my play,” Miciano said in a Facebook interview Thursday, June 20.
The second-seeded Miciano only lost to toughest rival top seed IM Nguyen Anh Khoi in the standard’s fourth round as he defeated seven others and draw with teammate Ocsan.
In blitz, the sixth-seeded former Ateneo de Davao player upset No. 3 Fide master Le Minh Hoang of Vietnam and No. 5 Htet Zaw Phone of Myanmar in the seventh and eighth rounds, respectively.
He is a first year college at Far Eastern University (FEU) in Manila but he did not enroll in the second semester, which started last January, to focus more on his chess campaigns.
He thanked Pagcor through Chairman Andrea Domingo, Jeremy Go of Go for Gold, Philippine Sports Commission headed by Chairman William Ramirez, National Chess Federation of the Philippines chairman and president Cong Prospero Pichay, Jr., Kingston Sia and Hakan Dagtas of Resort World Manila and Jaime del Rosario of JVR Foundation (Emcor) for supporting his Myanmar stint.