Davaoeno International Master Oliver Dimakiling ranked fifth on the list with a FIDE ranking of 2442.
Another Davaoeno IM, John Marvin Miciano, ranked 18th in the list with a FIDE rating of 2317.
On June 18, Dimakiling showed that Pinoy chessers are world-class athletes after he finished in second place in the tough Grand Copthorne Professor Lim Kok Ann Invitational GM Tournament 2022 in Grand Copthorne Waterfront, Singapore.
Dimakiling scored 6.0 points on five wins, two draws, and two losses to finish as first runner-up in the tournament behind champion Singapore's newly minted Grandmaster Tin Jingya, who scored seven points.
While Dimakiling is happy with his win, he is sad since he failed to score 1.5 points in the two rounds to clinch his third and final Grandmaster (GM) norm.
A GM is the highest ranking in professional chess.
Dimakiling earned his first GM norm when he finished as a co-champion in the Dato Arthur Tan Malaysia Open Chess Championship in 2006. He obtained his second GM norm during the 2012 National Open Chess Championships, dubbed the Battle of the GMs in Boracay.
A player must complete the required three norms and reach at least a 2500 Elo rating once. Dimakiling has already accomplished the latter.
For a number of years, the country has been longing, thirsting, and wanting another GM to come.
Since Torre achieved the GM feat in 1974, followed by Rosendo Balinas Jr. in 1976, the much younger Rogelio Antonio Jr. did his share in 1990.
Then a wave of next generation Filipino GMs came, starting in the year 2000 with the likes of Buenaventura Villamayor, Nelson Mariano II (2004), Mark Paragua (2005), Darwin Laylo (2007), Wesley So (2007), Jayson Gonzales (2008), John Paul Gomez (2008), Joseph Sanchez (2009), Rogelio Barcenilla (2009), Roland Salvador (2010), Julio Catalino Sadorra (2011), Oliver Barbosa (2011), Richard Bitoon (2011), and Enrico Sevillano (2012).(Romeo Braceros Jr.)