by Marlon Bernardino
Singapore----Committed to a task or purpose, train hard and you will succeed. This is the advice of Singapore based International Master Rico Yap Mascarinas who hails from Tuburan, Cebu.

"Passion, dedication and consistent training to reach every single one of your goals," said Mascarinas, top chess teacher of Int Chess Asia who learns the rudiments of the chess at the age of six from his father Ricardo a native of Tubigon, Bohol.

It shall be recalled that Mascarinas played in eight Chess Olympiads (1976, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1988, 1990, 1992).

His magnificent showing in the history of the Chess Olympiad came at the 1982 Lucerne Olympiad where he bagged the Gold Medal in Board 2 going undefeated in 9 games, winning 6 and drawing 3 for a total of 7.5 points. He had a performance rating of 2615 in this Olympiad.

He also played in eight Asian Team Chess Championships (1974, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1986, 1991, 1993) manning Board 2 in 1977, 1979, 1983 & 1991, Board 3 in 1981 & 1986 and Board 4 in 1993 and 1st Reserve Board in 1974.

In his first appearance in the 1974 edition held at Penang, Malaysia, he scored 3.5/4 to bag the Gold Medal in the 1st Reserve Board. In the 1977 championships played at Auckland, New Zealand, Mascariñas played Board 2 for the first time in his career and immediately made his presence felt as he won the Bronze Medal scoring 6 points in 8 games. In the 1979 edition, he won all his 7 games en route to winning the Gold Medal in Board 2. In the 1986 edition held at Dubai, he went undefeated in 6 games playing Board 3, winning 5 and drawing 1 to score an outstanding 5.5/6 winning the Gold Medal in the process. Finally, in 1991 at Penang, Malaysia, he secured the Silver Medal in Board 2 scoring 6 points out of a possible 8. His last participation in this tournament was in 1993 where he played in board 4 in Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia. (Marlon Bernardino)