Rico Mascariñas (born 2 March 1953) is a Cebuano chess player with the title of International Master. He was one of the premiere chess players of the Philippines during the 1980s and the 1990s and for a long period of time he was the No. 2 ranked player of the Philippines behind Grandmaster Eugenio Torre. Per World Chess Federation (FIDE), his highest numerical Elo rating was 2437 which he reached in January 2001 up to July 2001. At present, he has a numerical Elo rating of 2416 with a World Rank of No. 1800 and a National Rank (among Filipino chess players) of No. 16. However, per chessgames.com, Mascariñas achieved a highest numerical Elo rating of 2470. He was awarded the International Master (IM) title in 1978. He is now based in Singapore where he coaches the junior team. In 2004 Mascariñas was awarded the title of FIDE Instructor.

Chess career

At the 1st Burroughs Computers Grandmasters Tournament held from April 5–19, 1978 at New Zealand, Mascariñas tied for third place with a score of 7/12 posting 4 wins, 6 draws and 2 losses just behind tournament winner Miguel Quinteros (10/12) and countryman Eugene Torre (8/12) and tied with Ortvin Sarapu. This tournament served as the second leg of the Asian Grandmasters Circuit. Mascariñas also played at the 29th (2001) Annual World Open held in Philadelphia, USA, a 9-round Swiss System event featuring 228 players. Mascariñas ended up tied for 96th–118th places where he eventually finished in 101st place with a score of 4.5/9 by posting 4 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses. Mascariñas, who migrated to Singapore later in his career, played at the 21st Cairnhill Open which took place from December 7–13, 2003 in Cairnhill CC, Singapore. He tied for 5th-11th places with a score of 6.5/9 in this 73-player, 9-round Swiss System Tournament finishing in 7th place after tiebreaks where countryman GM Julio Sadorra also played and ended up also in this 5th-11th logjam eventually placing 10th.

FIDE World Chess Championship

Chess Olympiad

He played in eight Chess Olympiads (1976, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1988, 1990, 1992) garnering a total score of 46.5 points/82 games on the strength of 26 wins, 41 draws and 15 losses. He played Board 2 for Team Philippines from 1980–1984 and 1988 and Board 3 in 1978 and 1990 and Board 4 in 1976 as an untitled player. In the 1992 Chess Olympiad played at Manila, Philippines, he spearheaded Team Philippines "B" which tied for 38th – 44th places. His greatest moment 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 as compared to his 2410 ELO Rating at that time. In 1988 at the 28th Chess Olympiad held at Thessaloniki, Greece, he was part of Team Philippines that recorded a best-ever 7th-place finish manning Board 2. He scored 7.5 points in 13 games on the strength of 4 wins, 7 draws and 2 losses with a performance rating of 2531, way above his ELO rating then of 2455.

Asian Chess Championships

He also participated in eight Asian Chess Championship (1974, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1986, 1991, 1993) manning Board 2 in 1977, 1979, 1983 & 1991, Board 3 in 1981 & 1986, Board 4 in 1993 and 1st Reserve Board in 1974. Overall, Mascariñas posted an impressive 37.5 points in 51 games posting 30 wins, 15 draws and 6 losses with an overall winning percentage of 73.5% where he won 3 gold medals, 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal in Individual Play and 5 golds, 2 silvers and 1 bronze in Team Competition.

Intchess Vision Masters (Singapore Chess Open)

He has been a regular fixture in the Intchess Vision Masters tournament where he has already participated four times: 3rd, 4th, 8th and 10th editions. He won the 4th and 8th editions of the tournament and finished runner-up in the 3rd edition. During its 10th edition, he finished in 6th place where his countryman Eric Gloria finished as Champion.

Achievements and awards