He’ll be called GM Quizon soon

MANILA, Philippines — The long wait for the Philippines’ next chess Grandmaster would be over soon.

Daniel Quizon inched steps closer to becoming one after claiming his third and final GM norm in a magnificent, come-from-behind title conquest in the second and final leg of the Hanoi Grandmaster Chess Tournament in Vietnam yesterday.

The 20-year-old two-time national champion scored the needed seven-point requirement that he capped with a smashing win over Vietnamese GM Bui Vinh in the ninth and final round.

It didn’t look like heading that way early on with Quizon’s stinging second-round defeat to Vietnamese FIDE Master Banh Gia Huy.

But then he went on a rampage, stringing together five straight wins and 6.5 points in the last seven rounds highlighted by shock wins over GMs Nguyen Anh Dung and Vinh of Vietnam and a draw with GM Vojtech Plat of the Czech Republic.

“Hindi ko po in-expect na makuha ko dahil sa talo ko sa second round,” said Quizon, whose other GM results came in two Eastern Asia Juniors editions in 2018 in South Korea and last year in Kota Kinabalu.

All Quizon needs to do now to be a full-pledged GM is to reach the 2500-rating plateau.

The Dasmariñas bet’s current live rating is 2460.6, including the 19.3 he earned in this leg.