Bacojo secures GM norm in Moscow
MANILA, Philippines — Filipino International Master Mark Jay Bacojo has secured a Grandmaster norm with a round to go in the Russian Chess Crown Standard A in Moscow.
Bacojo conquered Russian FIDE Master Stanislav Bukreev in a marathon 70-move win in Queen’s Pawn duel that catapulted him to a four-man tie at the helm with seven points after the penultimate round.
He sealed his first GM norm in the process as he gained a whopping 83.8 rating points and an astonishing 2667 performance rating – equivalent to a super GM level – approaching the final round.
In the final round versus Russian IM Ramil Faizrakhmanov, Bacojo has a shot at becoming the first Filipino to win on Russian soil.
He shares the lead with two more Russian GMs in Boris Savchenko and Zhamsaran Tsydypov.
The late great GM Rosendo Balinas won a stronger GM tournament in 1978 over in Odesa, Ukraine.
“Technically, Bacojo has the best performance by a Filipino in a Russian tournament,” said Bacojo’s FEU coach GM Jayson Gonzales.
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