Darwin Laylo

Who is Darwin Laylo?

Darwin Laylo is a Filipino chess grandmaster.

Laylo won the Philippine national championship in 2004 and 2006. These wins earned him a place on the Philippine teams in the 2004 Calvià Olympiad and in 2006 at Turin.

In 2006 he gained two GM norms, the first from the 2006 Malaysian Open, and the second at the 2006 Bad Wiessee tournament in Germany. His third and final norm came in the 2007 Asian Chess Championship in Cebu, Philippines.

Laylo placed in the top ten of the 2007 Asian Chess Championship, earning a place in the 2007 World Chess Cup, November, 2007, in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. Seeded 113th out of 128 participants, Laylo was eliminated in the first round, 1½–½, by the French grandmaster Étienne Bacrot.

In 2008, he tied for 3rd-7th with Ashot Nadanian, Marat Dzhumaev, Dražen Sermek and Susanto Megaranto in the 5th Dato' Arthur Tan Malaysia Open Championship in Kuala Lumpur. In 2009, he came first in the Zonal tournament in Ho Chi Minh.