Mark Paragua
| Mark Paragua | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Mark Callano Paragua |
| Country | Philippines |
| Born |
March 29, 1984 Philippines |
| Title | Grandmaster |
| FIDE rating | 2521 (February 2017) |
| Peak rating | 2621 (April 2006) |
Mark Callano Paragua (born March 29, 1984) is a Filipino chess grandmaster. He was born to Flordeliza Callano and Ricardo Paragua, the latter of whom is also his coach. The father and son travel around the world to participate in international tournaments. He currently resides both in the city of Meycauayan and the adjacent town of Marilao in the province of Bulacan.
At the 1998 Disney World Rapid Chess Championship for Kids, held November 15–17 at the EuroDisney theme park in Paris, Paragua and Bu Xiangzhi each finished first with 7½ points in the boys' 14 and under section, with Paragua taking the gold medal on tiebreak points.
He was the youngest Filipino master ever, at nine years of age. He also became the youngest Filipino GM ever at 20 (until Wesley So surpassed it), beating out Eugenio Torre's record by about two years.
Paragua qualified for the 2004 World Championship in Tripoli, Libya, where he was eliminated by Viktor Bologan of Moldova in the first round 1-3. He also qualified for World Cup Chess 2005 (qualifying tournament for world championship). He upset Armenian GM Sergei Movsesian in the first round before narrowly losing in the tie breaker against Alexey Dreev of Russia in the second round (Paragua drew both his games against Dreev in the regulation)
Paragua become the first Filipino to reach 2600 FIDE after he placed second in the Asian Zonal 3.3 Chess Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
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