By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Daniel Quizon downed International Master Rolando Nolte in the 11th and final round to capture the AQ Prime ASEAN Chess Championship at the Great Eastern Hotel in Quezon City Saturday, Feb. 18.
The 19-year-old Quizon needed 57 moves of a King’s Indian Defense to outplay Nolte and finish with 7.5 points, enough to edge out erstwhile co-leader IM Paulo Bersamina for the crown after the latter settled for 7 points.
The victory became sweeter for Quizon as he also clinched an automatic Grandmaster norm that went with the crown.
It was the second of the three required results for Quizon, a Southeast Asian Games medalist and World Cup veteran, to claim the GM title.
Bersamina missed out on ruling the event as he was held to just a 30-move draw by Vietnamese GM Nguyen Van Huy of a Sicilian encounter to settle for second place.
If he had won this one, he would have ended up tied with Quizon on top and clinch the crown via the winner-over-the-other rule since the former beat the latter in their first round faceoff a week ago.
It was a dramatic come-from-behind triumph for Quizon, who clawed his way back from the grave after absorbing two straight setbacks to start the 11-round tournament organized by the Kamatyas Chess Club.
Quizon recovered from there as he ended up unbeaten the rest of the way by winning six and drawing three in his last nine assignments.
Finishing third was GM Susanto Megaranto of Indonesia, who halved the point with teammate IM Mohammad Ervan, with 6.5 points.
Ervan ended up at joint No. 4 with GM Darwin Laylo, who bested GM John Paul Gomez, with six points each.
