| Mark Paragua |
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Super Grandmaster
 Photo: www.main.uschess.org Mark Callano Paragua was born March 29, 1984. He was born in the Philippines to Flordeliza Callano and Ricardo Paragua, who is also his coach. Mark Paragua was the first Filipino ever to achieve a Super Grandmaster status, peaking at 2621 rating, which he achieved on April, 2006. He became a Super GM after he garnered second place in the Asian Zonal 3.3 Chess Championships at the Stanford Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Paragua finished the event with 7.0 points, second to Indonesia's chess legend Utot Adianto, who also finished with an identical score but had a higher tie-break.
Mark Paragua was supposed to compete in the Aeroflot Open in Moscow, Russia, which started February 8 but forfeited the first round of the tournament, according to the Aeroflot.com website. Mark admitted he experienced some airplane ticket problems. At a tender age of 9 years old, Mark became the first Filipino master. He also was the youngest Filipino Grandmaster at 20, beating Eugene Torre by two years. In 2007, another outstanding Filipino prodigy, Wesley So, eclipsed Paragua's record. Mark qualified for the 2004 World Championship in Tripoli, Libya and World Cup Chess 2005. He was the October 2007 Player of the Month by the Chess Journalist Association of the Philippines after his first place finish in the Tanauan Open and Fisherandom Chess held in Batangas. In November 2007, Paragua finished 6th overall in the GMA cup with a score of 6.5 points. Three Chinese players had 7 points, namely GM Li Chao, GM Ni Hua and Weiqi Zhou. Li Chao topped the tournament through a high tie-breaker. Aside from Mark Paragua, 2 other players had 6.5 points, GM Zhang Zhong of Singapore and Filipino NM Dino Ballecer. In the same tournament, Wesley So finished with 5.5 points. Every Filipino chess enthusiast is hoping Mark Paragua will get back to his 2600 form soon. References:
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