Bryan Roy Raagas

Daniel Quizon made history by defeating Igor Efimov of Monaco to reach the 2500-mark and be the Philippines’ newest chess grandmaster at the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary, on September 15.

Photo Courtesy of Philippine News Agency.

Quizon capitalized Efimov's blunder on the 37th move by forcing an exchange of pieces and a potential checkmate on the next two moves, making his opponent resign afterwards to seal the historic win.

“Hindi ko pa po kasi nakita yung Nxe3, may ina-analyze pa po akong iba. Pero, nung nakita ko yung Nxe3 and Qxf3, sabi ko, ‘Eto na yata (winning chance)’”, the newest Filipino GM said in an interview.

Both players maintained the game in a closed position, strategically, until the end of the match.

The Monegasque GM planned to remove the Filipino prodigy’s counterat

tack at the flanks in the opening and tried to hold the center with his pawns and other pieces on the board.

After maneuvering pieces of both sides, Daniel Quizon found a way to weaken the opponent’s center by trading pawns on the center in the 27th move.

Nonetheless, Efimov kept his center intact with his pieces supporting the lone pawn, yet the Black’s pieces are now stacking up the offensive on the pawn.

The 64-year old master managed to escape the counterattack, but his next move cost the game due to the miscalculation of exchanging pieces, leaving his knight hanging in the process.

From thereon, the Monegasque GM was left with no counterattacks to compensate for the mistake, forcing him to shake hands with the Filipino’s newest GM and settling a loss for his team.

With the win, Quizon joined the ranks of Eugene Torre, Oliver Barbosa, and fellow teammate Julio Sadorra as the 17th Chess Grandmaster in the country.