ALL he wanted was to be given a chance to play with the Cagayan de Oro Higalas in the country’s first-ever professional chess league.

At 24 years old with 2146 NCFP ratings in rapid play, the Gingoog City native Aljie Cantonjos seems unwanted and under-appreciated even with his Palarong Pambansa stint in 2011 as still a pupil of Kalipay Elementary School of said town.

But the patience and eagerness of the underrated Cantonjos, who’s now attending online class with Manila’s Adamson University, was aptly rewarded when the Higalas finally made way for him to the team as a replacement player.

“He’d been proven all of us wrong. The boy is a killer on the board when the chips are down,” said regular team mainstay Jaime Joshua Frias II of the young Cantonjos.

Fr Vic Arellano, who’s now back as president of the Cagayan de Oro Chess Club, could only reminisce the boy’s struggle to get recognition.

“Sa among mga meeting nga tago-tago kay lage pandemic, mo-adto gyod siya maskin dili imbitado kay gusto modula,” Fr Vic recalled.

When home ground Nazario Ubanan went to Manila and became inactive and youthful contemporary Adrian Othniel Yulo’s team entry got hobbled by his high rating and undrafted status, it opened the gates for Cantonjos to join the CMOCA fold. And they benefited from his arrival.

Since then, the Higalas were able to break their losing spell with Cantonjos contributing a lot and even starred when Cagayan de Oro upsets Manila via the breathtaking Armageddon tiebreaker, 2-1.

The flamboyant Cantonjos, whose natural confidence would often bail him out in losing situations, also scored a monumental upset against International Master Joel Banawa of the Isabela Knight Raiders.

“I underestimated him, pero I notice his guts and confidence. So why not? The more sa armageddon when I strongly suggests him to play, he delivered ug I was like watching a team scoring a goal in the Fifa World Cup...Wala ko nasayop,” Frias told Gold Star Daily.

With Cantonjos around, the Dr. Ariel Potot-owned CMOCA Higalas are optimistic to make it to the playoff round in the Southern division of the 2022 Professional Chess Association of the Philippines All-Filipino Conference.