CANINO, BACOJO EARN IM TITLE

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines’ Ruelle Canino and Mark Jay Bacojo came through with podium finishes and earned International Master titles in the 6th ASEAN Individual Chess Championships-Gov. Henry Oaminal Cup at the Asenso Misamis Occidental Resort and Aquamarine Park in Ozamiz over the weekend.

Canino drew with Mongolian Batpelden Buyankhishig in 56 moves of a Queen’s Gambit and ended up second in the women’s class with 6.5 points behind eventual champion Evgenija Ovod of Russia with seven points.

Bacojo likewise drew with Munkhdalai Amilal in 71 moves of a Sicilian Defense and took No. 3 with six points in the open division that was won by Indian V S Raahul with seven points in this tournament. Nguyen Quoc Hy of Vietnam was second with 6.5 points.

Apart from the WIM title, the 17-year-old Cagayan de Oro lass, who will be part of the Southeast Asian Games-bound national team, also earned a Woman Grandmaster norm plus an impressive 99.6 rating points that should hike her 2110 rating to 2209.6.

2025-11-09T16:31:39Z