Nelson Mariano II

Nelson I. Mariano II
Nelson Isurina Mariano II, 2010
Country	Philippines
Born	(1974-06-28) June 28, 1974 (age 43) Philippines
Title	Grandmaster
FIDE rating	2447 (January 2011)
Peak rating	2510 (January 1995)

Nelson Mariano II (born June 28, 1974) is the Philippines' fifth chess Grandmaster and the last Asian Junior Chess Champion from the Philippines since 1994.

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 (IM) 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.