Felixberto Baguyo Jr. of Roxas City became the first Capisnon to earn the FIDE [Fédération Internationale des Échecs] Master chess title.
FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich recently made the announcement when the resident of Brgy. Bato earned the 2025 Arena FIDE Master (AFM).
As the international governing body for chess, FIDE recognizes master titles such as National Master, FIDE Master, International Master, and Grandmaster.
This is a remarkable achievement for the 47-year-old Baguyo, who also serves as the acting Information and Communications Technology (ICT) division manager for the Metro Roxas Water District (MRWD).
It was early this year when Baguyo achieved a standard rating of 1690 and a rapid rating of 1677 on the FIDE Online Arena (FOA).
The FOA is the official online chess platform where players can earn FIDE-recognized titles by achieving specific Elo ratings in online games. These titles are recorded on a player’s official FIDE profile and are awarded for maintaining a certain rating across a designated number of games in standard, rapid, blitz, or bullet formats.
Baguyo also competed in other tournaments with higher initial ratings. It included a rating of 1815 in May 2024.
Baguyo is a member of the 2010 Capiz Chess Team, which finished 8th in the Inter-City and Province National Chess Team Championship.
Baguyo is also the inaugural champion of Touchmove, an all-Capisnon rapid chess tournament.
“What a blessing to the Capiz chess community,” said chess coach Kenneth Calvez.
“First, Engineer Roel Bryan Alsagon recently clinched the Arena International Master title. And now Felix Baguyo Jr. has followed suit with the AFM title,” added Calvez.
Baguyo and Alsagon joined the growing list of Capisnon chess masters, which the first is Francis Jocson as National Master in 1999.
