Barcenilla to get long due GM title

MANILA, Philippines - Rogelio “Banjo” Barcenilla, the former Asian Junior champion who missed becoming a grandmaster in 2000 due to technicality, will finally obtain his GM title next month.

“He’ll get his GM title next month when the FIDE Congress convenes,” said National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) president Butch Pichay Jr.

Barcenilla, who inched his first two GM norms in Indonesia in 1993 and in Manila in 1998, gained his third, actually his fourth, GM result in the Copper State International in Phoenix, Arizona last year.

He was actually set to become the fourth Filipino GM in 2000 after Eugene Torre, the late Rosendo Balinas and Joey Antonio when he notched the third GM result in the Marshall Chess Club GM Invitational in New York.

But the World Chess Federation (FIDE) didn’t confirm the GM title status of Barcenilla in the 2000 FIDE Congress in Turkey since he gained his third GM result in a tournament that used a Marshall system, a format that is not included in the FIDE guidelines on conferring grandmaster norms.

Since then, Barcenilla slowed down in his chess campaign and migrated to the US with his family and put up care facilities for senior patients.

Barcenilla, a former San Sebastian standout, was an accomplished player as a junior, winning a number of Philippine and Asian Youth Championships, as well as playing on the Olympiad team. In 1991, he finished third overall in the World Junior Championship in Romania. Since moving to the US, Barcenilla has won numerous open tournaments in Arizona and has fared well in open tournaments outside of Arizona.

He was also the top player for the Arizona Scorpions in 2008, where he played board 1 for the matches held in Phoenix, and faced all the top GMs in the league, finishing with an even score. Barcenilla defeated GM Mitkov, drew with GMs Alexander Stripunsky, Vinay Bhat, and Julio Becerra and lost only to GM Jaan Ehlvest.

He will thus join the elite circle of RP GMs that also includes Bong Villamayor, Nelson Mariano II, Mark Paragua, Wesley So, Darwin Laylo, Jayson Gonzales and John Paul Gomez.