ANTONIO WINS, SO FALTERS IN SUBIC CHESS

Standings after seven rounds:

5.5 – H. Ni (China), C. Li (China), A. Gupta (India), L. Ding (China)

5 – W. So (RP), K. Sasikiran (India), J. Zhou (China), R. Yu (China)

4.5 – R. Antonio (RP), L.Q. Liem (Vietnam), E. Ghaemmaghami ( Iran), P. Harikrishna (India), T. Bakre (India), Y. Yu (China), G. Geetha (India), B. Gundavaa (Mongolia), Y. Wan (China), C. Zheng (China), D. Xiu (China), P. Sethuranan (India), D. Harika (India)


On a day GM Wesley So went down to his first defeat, GM Rogelio Antonio, Jr. did his best to keep the Philippine pride alive in the seventh round of 2010 Asian Individual Chess Championships at the Subic Exhibition and Convention Center in Subic, Olongapo City late Tuesday.

Antonio, ever so eager to get back into contention and gain another crack at the World Chess Cup, made short work of upset-conscious Pouria Darini of Iran to raise his score to 4.5 points and keep his chances alive in this prestigious, nine-round tournament organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP).

A mainstay of Philippine Army, Antonio defeated the lower-rated but hard-fighting Iranian player after 33 moves of the Sicilian Alapin. "I still have a good chance of making it with two more rounds left," said the multi-awarded camapaigner from Calapan, Oriental Mindoro, who finished in a tie for third place in last year's edition of this qualifying stage for the World Cup.

Antonio's win, however, failed to boost the morale of the 32-man Filipino delegation, which suffered a big blackeye with the unexpected loss of its top player, So.

In a battle between two evenly-matched players, So tried long and hard to squeeze out a win before finally yielding to fellow GM Ni Hua of China in marathon 74 moves of the Slav.

When the end finally came , the 16-year-old Filipino champion is facing two unstoppable queening pawns by Ni, the highest-rated player in the vaunted 19-man Chinese delegation with an ELO of 2667.

Asia’s first GM Eugene Torre and other experts, who analyzed the game, said So threw away an excellent chance of salvaging at least a draw in the tense rook and pawn endgame.

Several moves earlier, So even held a slight initiative against Ni but made several passive moves against Ni’s two connected rooks that turned the tide in the Chinese’s favor.

GM Li Chao of China crushed compatriot GM Yu Yangyi, GM Abhijeet Gupta of India humbled countryman GM Gopal Narayanan Geetha and GM Ling Direng of China outclassed Bayarsaikhan Gundavaa of Mongolia to vault into a four-way tie for the lead with Ni with 5.5 points.

So, seeded fourth with an ELO of 2665, dropped to a tie for fifth to eighth places with five points going into the final two rounds.

Another Filipino, GM John Paul Gomez, also ended up with a sad story to tell.

Gomez, who rose to prominence by earning his GM title during the World Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany two years ago, went down in defeat to GM Zhou Jianchao of China in a keenly-watched RP-China encounter.

The loss left Gomez, a mechanical engineering graduate of La Salle, with only four points to show in the tournament supported by the Philippine Sports Commission, Department of Tourism, PCSO, PAGCOR and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.

Also with 4.5 points are GM Pentala Harikirshna, who whipped IM Kaiqi Yang of China, top seed GM Le Quang Liem of Cietnam, who halved the point with IM P. Sethuraman of India, and GM Ehsan Ghaemmaghami of Iran, who split the point with GM Tejas Bakre of India.

Filipino IM Rolando Nolte toppled GM Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh in 43 moves of the Sicilian to improve to four points.

In other notable seventh-round results, IM Ronald Dableo drew with GM Zhou Weiqi of China, IM Dronavalli Harika of India downed IM Barlo Nadera, GM Wen Yang bested Allan Macala and IM Oliver Dimakiling beat Paulo James Florendo.

Meanwhile, Christian Arroyo emerged as the solo winner in the National Amateur Rapid chess championship, side event of the Asian Championships, held over the weekend.

A mainstay of Far Eastern University under GM Jayson Gonzales, Arroyo finished with five wins and two draws in the two-day, seven-round tournament. He pocketed the top prize of P10,000.

Sharing second to third places were Allan Cantonjos and Ryan Dungca, who finished with 5.5 points. They pocketed P7,000 each.

Merben Roque and Jerry Areque finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

Completing the top 10 were Marlon Ricafort, sixth; Sheider Nebato, seventh; Ritchie Evangelista, eighth; Joey Albert Florendo, ninth; and Jerad Docena, 10th.

The other awardees were Lourecel Hernandez ( top unrated), Vince Angelo Medina ( top kiddie) and Judith Pineda ( top female).

Contributed by: Marlon Bernardino