John Marvin Miciano bags 5 medals Asean age group chess

International Master John Marvin Miciano bagged five medals in the 20th Asean Age Group Chess Championships in Mandalay, Myanmar, including a golden finish in the blitz team event.

Miciano, one of the promising athletes under the Go For Gold program, earned a silver medal in the standard event after compiling 7.5 points after nine rounds behind champion IM Anh Khoi Nguyen (8.5pts) from Vietnam.

The Asian Youth 18-under chess champion then joined forces with fellow Pinoy youth chessers Melito Ocsan Jr. and John Merill Jacutina to seal the team silver in the same event.

The trio of Ocsan, Jacutina and Miciano made amends in their silver finish and delivered in the blitz team event with a gold medal after defeating the powerhouse Vietnam triumvirate of Nguyen, IM Minh Thang Tran and Nguyen Khoi Le.

“While it’s nice to win as many medals as I can, my real objective is to earn a GM norm to boost my quest to become a grandmaster,’’ said Miciano, who will be named Davao City’s male athlete of the year in the So Kim Cheng Awards of the Davao City Sports Council on July 26.

Miciano, seeking his first of three GM norms, also brought home a bronze in individual blitz and another silver in the team rapid with Jacutina and Ocsan.

“Marvin has done a great job. Despite his youth, he has accomplished a lot,’’ said Go For Gold godfather Jeremy Go. “We hope that with our support, he can continue to go for gold.’’

After becoming a national master at 16 years old, Miciano was named Fide master the following year before the World Chess Federation granted him the IM title for winning the 2018 Asian Youth U-18 Chess Championships in Thailand.

“There are a lot of tournaments out there that we can win gold medals, but with only few grandmasters participating. I need to participate in tournaments with more GMs for me to get that GM norm,’’ said Miciano..

He will need three GM norms and a Fide rating of 2500 to fulfill that dream.