Paragua to receive GM title — Campo

Mark Paragua is set to be conferred the Grandmaster title in the ongoing 76th FIDE Congress in Dresden, Germany, becoming the country’s youngest GM at 21 and ending a year-long wait for the country’s top-rated player.

Long-time international chess federation (FIDE) president Florencio Campomanes made the confirmation from Germany where the FIDE Qualification Commission (QC) recommended the approval of pending applications for GM titles, including that of Paragua, who also became the youngest Filipino master at 9.

Campomanes himself lobbied for the proposal before the QC to either pass all or not the application of Paragua and six other players.

In the overseas call, Campomanes confirmed that Paragua’s application will be approved, saying everything is already a done deal.

Paragua, who made it to the World Championship in Libya last year, will become the country’s sixth GM after Eugene Torre, the late Rosendo Balinas, Joey Antonio, Bong Villamayor and Nelson Mariano II. At 21, he’ll also surpassed the longstanding record of Torre (22) as the youngest Filipino GM.

The honor was long in coming for the Bulacan native, who clinched his final GM norm when he beat Russian GM Veniamen Shtyrenkov in the second Alushta Grandmaster tournament in Ukraine last year. The feat came two weeks after the Filipino topped the first Alushta GMT for his second GM norm, making him the first Filipino since the late Rosendo Balinas to win a closed tournament in a former Soviet Union Republic.

But FIDE later withheld Paragua’s GM application following reports that the results of the two Alushta GMT meets were dubious.

FIDE Continental president Khalifa Al Hitmi did confirm in his report before the chess Congress that for several years now, controversies of rigged results and plays marred the series of Alushta meets.

Still, since no objection was raised by the QC, the approval for the GM applications of the seven players is deemed moot and academic.

Aside from Paragua, other players whose GM applications were recommended for approval include Igor Svirjov (Estonia), Alexander Obukhov (Russia), Roman Ovetchkin (Russia), Vladimir Rogovskz (Ukraine) and the women pair of Nelli Aginian and Siranush Andriasian.

Khalifa did recommend before the Congress that FIDE should take measures for controversies such as the Alushta meet not to happen anymore. He added mechanisms also be made to protect the rating and title system.

Title and Ratings Committee chairman Dr. Dirk de Ridder also expressed serious concern about the matter and raised the need for FIDE to have a more careful monitoring of tournaments and that sanctions be taken against arbiters and others in proven cases of fraud.