ROGELIO “BANJO” BARCENILLA SEEK HIS FULL-PLEDGE GM TITLE IN A CLOSE TOURNAMENT

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA—NEVER GIVE UP…this was the stressed of Rogelio Barcenilla referring his third and final (long overdue) GM norm during the exclusive interview with this writer recently.
Fondly called Banjo in a chess circuit, the former stand-out of San Sebastian College (SSC) is eyeing to join the country’s elite GM circle which includes Eugene Torre, the late Rosendo Balinas, Rogelio “Joey” Antonio Jr., Buenaventura “Bong” Villamayor, Nelson Mariano II, Mark Paragua, Wesley So, Darwin Laylo, Jayson Gonzales and John Paul Gomez.

“Hindi naman tayo sumusuko na makukuha na natin ang third at final GM norm. Pero gusto kong sumali sa round robin (close tournament) tournament kasi mas malaki chance na makuha natin d’un ang aking third at final GM norm,” said Barcenilla, a former Asian Junior Champion and who is currently based in Arizona along his wife former Olympian Woman National Master (WNM) Lilibeth Lee.
It shall be recalled that in June 2000, Barcenilla, 28, became the fourth Filipino GM after Eugene Torre, the late Rosendo Balinas and Rogelio Antonio, Jr. when he obtained the third and final GM result in the Marshall Chess Club GM Invitational in New York.

In winning his last GM result, Barcenilla defeated the late Polish GM Alexander Wojkeiwicz, the 1998 Far East Bank GM Centennial Classic champion, and Russian GM Kher and drew with American GMs Gregory Serper and Alexander Stripunsky in the category 10 tournament.
FIDE rules require six of nine points for a player who must play at least three GMs in the tournament, rated as a Category 10 tournament.

However, the World Chess Federation (FIDE) didn’t confirm the GM title status of Barcenilla in the 2000 FIDE Congress in Istanbul, Turkey. His GM title application came to a final standoff when votes were tied after all but one of the officials had cast their votes. The last official to vote, who will therefore break the tie and decide whether or not Barcenilla becomes a Grandmaster, happened to be a Filipino– but to everyone’s surprise, he voted to reject the application. The reason was due to the fact that the supposed third GM norm of Barcenilla was a result of a tournament that he had won in the US which used the Marshall system, a tournament format that wasn’t included among that those cited in FIDE’s guidelines that could bestow Grandmaster norms.

Meanwhile, GM Rogelio “Joey” Antonio Jr. is optimistic that his best friend Barcenilla will earn his third and final GM norm.

” Wala naman tayong duda na makukuha ni (Rogelio) Banjo ang kanyang GM title. Y’un talaga ang strength na n’ya.” Said the he twelve (12)-time National Open Champion Antonio, the top player of multi-titlist Philippine Army Chess Team under the baton of Philippine Army (PA) Commanding General Lt. Gen. Victor S. Ibrado who is seeking to continue his winning streak in the US Chess Circuit in the forthcoming 18th Annual North American Open Chess Championship set to open on December 27 at the Bally’s Casino Resort Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

BY: MARLON BERNARDINO.