By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Mark Jay Bacojo shocked FIDE Master Stanislav Bukreev of Russia to claim a Grandmaster norm after the ninth and penultimate round of the Russian Chess Crown standard A in Moscow.
Bacojo needed 70 moves of a Queen’s Pawn game to propel him to a four-player tie on top alongside locals IM Ramil Faizrakhmanov and GMs Boris Savchenko and Zhamsaran Tsydypov.
The Far Eastern University stalwart also booked his first GM norm regardless of the result of his last round duel with Faizrakhmanov being played at press time.
Expect Bacojo though to shoot for a win that could potentially win him the tournament and claim the distinction as the first Filipino to win a tournament in the country that produced the most world men and women champions in the history of the sport.
Another Filipino, the late legend GM Rosendo Balinas, Jr. won one in 1978 Odessa, which was then part of the Soviet Union, but is now in Ukraine.
In nine rounds, Bacojo has earned 83.8 rating points while posting an impressive tournament performance rating of 2667.
