Mark’s next target: World’s top 50

After breaking into the world’s top 100, Grandmaster Mark Paragua now wants to accomplish more — reach the Top 50 and clinch a berth in the Candidates Matches.

Paragua, the former child prodigy who became the first Filipino player to breach the 2600-rating mark and barge into the world’s top 100, yesterday said he aims to better his recent feat by making it to the top 50 by April.

"My first goal is to make the Top 50 in the world this April," said the 21-year-old Paragua a day after arriving in the country from a fourth place finish in the Singapore Masters.

"But my main target is to reach the Candidates Matches just like GM Eugene Torre," added Paragua.

Torre was the only Filipino to make it to the Candidates Matches where he lost to Hungarian GM Zoltan Ribli in 1983. He made the feat after sharing first place with another Hungarian and former world championship challenger Lajos Portisch in the Toluca Interzonals in Mexico.

In the recent FIDE rating list, Paragua is tied with GMs Suat Atalik of Turkey and Andrei Istratescu of Romania at 99th place with ratings of 2618.

Paragua also became the ninth highest rated player in Asia behind No. 3 Vishwanathan Anand, No. 28 P. Harikrishna and No. 30 Krishnan Sasikiran of India, No. 32 Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan, No. 64 Bu Xiangzhi, No. 69 Zhang Pengxiang and No. 85 Zhang Zhong of China, and No. 86 Darmen Sadvakasov of Kazakhstan.

He actually had his chances of making it to the Candidates, an old three-year system re-applied by FIDE as a replacement to the annual World Championship, after barging into the World Cup held last month in Siberia, Russia.

Paragua bested Sergey Movsesian of Slovakia in the first round but lost to Candidates veteran Alexei Dreev of Russia after coming close to beating the Russian in the second.

Paragua, meanwhile, opens his campaign this year by competing in the $158,000 International Open Tournament Ciudad de Morelia set Feb. 20-28 in Mexico.

The World Championship Cycle, which was last held a decade ago, starts in the National Championship, then the Asian Zonals with the top 2 advancing to the World Cup, which was then called the Interzonals.

From the World Cup will emerge the top 16 players, who will then be paired in a knockout format until the champion is named. The next cycle starts in 2007.

Meanwhile, the Philippines remained suspended by the FIDE for its failure to pay its arrears amounting to 5,000 euro dollars, or worth P320,000 and has been deleted from its rating list released quarterly.

National Chess Federation of the Philippines president Go Teng Kok has promised last December to settle the NCFP obligations.