Daniel Quizon becomes Philippines' 17th chess grandmaster at 20
The Philippines has a new chess grandmaster after 13 years!
Daniel Quizon clinched the coveted GM title at 20 years old after beating grandmaster Igor Efimov and breaching the 2500-rating plateau during the 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad held at BOK Sports Hall in Budapest, Hungary early Sunday, Sept. 15 (Philippine time).
The chess prodigy, who hails from Cavite, became the country's 17th grandmaster with his feat. The Philippines last earned a GM in the sport in 2011 with Oliver Barbosa and Richard Bitoon. In 2017, Janelle Mae Frayna became the country’s first and only woman grandmaster.
Quizon managed to thrive as an elite player in various chess tournaments at a young age.
In August 2018, he earned the International Master (IM) title after emerging victorious at the Eastern Asian Juniors Open Championships in Gangneung, South Korea with 7.5 points from nine rounds. The following year, he qualified for the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, where he fell short of claiming a spot on the podium.
Quizon was recognized by the San Miguel Corporation-Philippine Sportswriters Association as the MILO Junior Male Athlete of the Year in 2019 alongside award-winning tennis player Alex Eala. He also bagged gold in the under-16 standard competition of the Eastern Asia Youth Chess Championships in Bangkok, Thailand in the same year, securing 8.5 points from nine rounds.
The chess prodigy qualified for the Chess World Cup in 2021. He ended his campaign in the first round after losing to Russian-Canadian GM Evgeny Bareev.
Driven by his dream to clinch the grandmaster title, Quizon made it a point to hone his skills and complete the three required GM norms—a high-level of performance in chess tournaments.
He earned his first in February 2023 during the AQ Prime ASEAN Chess Championship and bagged his second in December of the same year after winning the Open division title at the Eastern Asia Juniors and Girls Chess Championship.
Quizon won his third and final required norm during the last leg of the Hanoi Grandmaster Chess Tournament in Vietnam in March 2024.