Nelson Mariano II
Nelson Isurina Mariano II is a Filipino chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2004, the fifth from the Philippines. Mariano won the Asian Junior Chess Championship in 1994.
Life and career
Mariano is currently the chief coach of Chesskidz LLP, a grandmaster school based in Singapore. Nelson grew up in the Philippines, where he began to learn chess at the age of 3 under the tutelage of his father, Nelson I, his first chess coach. He was educated at the University of the East.The prodigy was soon defeating opponents older and more experienced than himself. Nelson, his sister Cristine Rose Mariano, a Woman International Master and FIDE-Instructor, Carmina Joy Mariano and his brother Nelson Mariano III are all Filipino chess players. At the age of 7, he played his first serious game against a carpenter beside their house in Cebu City.
When the Mariano family moved to Manila from Cebu, Jet started playing in serious competitions, mostly in men's division and under-20 category. He achieved the International Master title when he became the 1994 Champion at the Asian Junior Chess Championship held in Shah Alam, Malaysia at the age of 19.
The President of the Philippines, Honorable Fidel V. Ramos honored Nelson for his outstanding performances in the Asian Junior and World Juniors Chess Championship in August 1994 placing equal 3rd, held in Matinhos, Brazil, the highest place attained ever by a Filipino chess players until today.
In April 2004, "GM Jet" earned his second GM norm at the 6th Dubai Open Championships and went on to earn his final GM norm at the Bangkok GM Circuit event in Thailand. In 2007, International Grandmaster Nelson "Jet" Mariano II decided to retire and teach chess in Singapore.
In 2006, Mariano was given the Distinguished Achievement Award by the University of the East for his achievements in the field of chess. This award has been given to nine outstanding sportspersons in the 60 years of the University's history. That includes James Yap, Robert Jaworski, The Vice President of the Philippines Honorable Noli de Castro, and five others. GM Jet as his students call him was also the coach/trainer/and sparring partner of GM Rogelio Antonio Jr. in his match against GM Eugenio Torre, Manila 1998.
In 2008, he started his own chess school, Chesskidz LLP and has since been imparting his knowledge in chess to children, youth and adults around the region.
Retirement from chess
After a strong runner-up finish in the prestigious Asian Zonal 3.3 World Cup qualifier held in Phu Quoc, Vietnam in 2007. Nelson announced his retirement in February 2007 from competitive chess. He cited the reason to pursue his dream of imparting his knowledge to the younger generation of chess players.and expressed fulfillment of what he had achieved throughout his chess career.
Being a good standing member of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines, Nelson was offered to lead the Philippine Team to the 2007 Asian Cities Chess Championship because of his good performance at the Asian Zonal 3.3 Championship. Nelson respectfully declined and gave up his slot to the younger Filipino chess players to play in Asian Cities Chess Championship in Iran that was held March 1–9, 2007 in Tehran.
Post-retirement chess
On 29 August 2010 in his first public chess event since his retirement, Nelson played in the 2010 Merdeka Chess Team Championships held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. An event played with the time control of 25 minutes per player, Nelson scored 6.5/9 on Board 1 leading his team Chesskidz LLP-Men's Team to its first ever Merdeka Championship Crown.Nelson has been coaching Chesskidz LLP students - a grandmaster chess school in Singapore since July 2008. The 2010 Merdeka Chess Team Championship in Malaysia was one of the chess programs of Chesskidz LLP organized as the first fieldtrip exposure for its students.
Prior to his transfer to Chesskidz LLP, he resigned from Power Chess Asia, where he was asked to sign an addendum, stating that if he quits from the company, he cannot work in Singapore in anything related to chess for 36 months, failure of which will have him pay PCA S$50,000. He won a defamation case against this said former employer.
Notable games
| 2004.07.27 UAE Event: Dubai op 6th |
| GM Mariano, Nelson II |
| GM Anton Korobov |
| 1. e4 c5 2. Ne2 ' Nc6 3. Nbc3 e6 4. g3 d5 5. exd5 exd5 6. Bg2 d4 7. Nd5 Nf6 8. Nef4 Nxd5 9. Nxd5 Bd6 10. O-O d3 11. b4 O-O 12. bxc5 Bxc5 13. Bb2 Qg5 14. cxd3 Bd7 15. h4 Qh6 16. Rc1 b6 17. d4 Bd6 18. Nxb6 axb6 19. Bxc6 Rxa2 20. Qb3 Ra7 21. Qxb6 Bb8 22. d5 Bg4 23. Rfe1 Ra2 24. Bc3 Ba7 25. Qb4 1-0 |
| Kuala Lumpur op 2nd Kuala Lumpur, 22.08.2005 |
| GM Mariano,Nelson II |
| GM Utut Adianto |
| 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.f3 e6 6.e4 exd5 7.e5 Qe7 8.Qe2 Ng8 9.Nc3 Bb7 10.Nh3 c4 11.Be3 axb5 12.0–0–0 Qb4 13.Nf4 Ne7 14.Bb6 Na6N ' 15.Rxd5 Qxc3+ 16.bxc3 Nxd5 17.Qe4 Ba3+ 18.Kd2 Nc5 19.Bxc5 Bxc5 20.Nxd5 Rxa2+ 21.Kc1 ' 21...0–0 22.Ne7+ Bxe7 23.Qxb7 Bg5+ 24.f4 Bxf4+ 25.Kd1 Rfa8 26.Ke1?? ' 26...Bxe5 27.Qf3 ' 27...Re8 28.Kd1 Ra1+ 29.Kc2 Ra2+ 30.Kd1 Bf6 31.g3 Ra1+ 32.Kd2 Bg5+ 33.Kc2 Ra2+ 34.Kb1 Rea8 0–1 |
| This game was awarded as the "Full Nelson" |
| Phu Quoc zt 3.3 Phu Quoc, Vietnam, 11.01.2007 |
| GM Mariano,Nelson II |
| GM Wesley So |
| 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Nd5 Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.c3 0–0 12.Nc2 Rb8 13.Be2 Bg5 14.0–0 Be6 15.Qd3 a5 16.Rfd1 Qd7 17.Qg3 h6 18.h3N ' 18...b4 19.Nce3 bxc3 20.bxc3 Bxd5 21.Nxd5 Rb2 22.Bc4 a4?! 23.h4 Bd8 24.Rab1 Qb7 25.Nb4² Rxb1 26.Rxb1 Ne7 27.Qd3 Qd7 28.g3 Bb6 29.Nd5 Bc5 30.Kg2 a3? ' 31.Qf3± Nxd5 32.Bxd5 Qe7 33.Rb7 Qf6 34.h5‡ Qd8 35.Rxf7 Rxf7 36.Qxf7+ Kh8 37.Be6 Bb6 38.Bf5 Bc7 39.g4 Bb6 40.Kf3 Bc5 41.g5 hxg5 42.Kg4 Qg8 43.Qg6 Bxf2 44.h6!+- ' 1–0 |