FILIPINO Grandmaster (GM) Rogelio “Joey” Antonio Jr. (Elo 2431) halved the point with Indian International Master (IM) Devaki V Prasad (Elo 2290) in yesterday’s third round to share sixth place with nine others in the 27th World Senior Chess Championship 2017 (50+ and 65+ Open-men and women) in Acqui Terme, Italy.
The win raised Antonio’s tally to 2.5 points in the 50+ years old category, the same output of Prasad, No. 4 GM Klaus Bischoff (2513/Germany), No. 8 IM Evgenij Kalegin (2426/Russia), No. 11 FM Stephan Buchal (2347/Germany), No. 18 FM Pavel Certek (2295/Slovakia), No. 24 FM Rolf Bergstrom (2270/Sweden), No. 27 Ibrahim Tofan (2235/Turkey), No. 40 IM Aitkazy Baimurzin (2170/Kazakhstan) and No. 48 FM Wagner Martins Madeira (2139/Brazil).
Using the disadvantageous black pieces, the third seed Antonio used his pet Caro-Kann defense, advance variation to salvage a fighting draw after 26 pushes.
Top seed GM Julio Granda Zuniga (2650/Peru) beat No. 12 FM Krishan Jhunjhnuwala (2340/USA) after 49 moves of an English Opening to tally 3.0 points and share the lead with No. 3 GM Zurab Sturua (2536/Georgia), No. 5 GM Eric Prie (2482/France), No. 9 GM Giorgi Bagaturov (2399/Georgia) and No. 10 IM Alexander Reprintsev (2361/Ukraine).
In the 65 years old and above category, third seed GM Eugene Torre (2465) failed to sustain his winning run after losing to No. 28 Boris Malisov (2240/Israel) after 51 moves of a Trompovsky Opening. Torre has 2.0 points in three outings.
Malisov joined perfect 3.0 pointers No. 2 GM Evgeny Sveshnikov (2480/Russia), No. 6 GM Vladimir Okhotnik (2434/France), No. 7 GM Vlastimil Jansa (2425/Czech Republic), No. 11 GM Davorin Komljenovic (2379/Croatia), No. 13 IM Nils-Gustaf Renman (2368/Sweden), No. 22 IM Arkady Shevelev (2280/Israel), No. 27 FM Boris Gutkin (2250/Israel) and No. 42 Igor Privara (Slovakia).
Tournament top seed GM AnatolyVaisser (2503/France) defeated No. 44 FM Hans Singer (2174/Austria) after 62 moves of Queens Gambit Declined to raise his total to 2.5 points, good for 10th to 23rd spots.
In Saturday’s 4th round, Antonio will face Reprintsev while Torre goes up against No. 34 FM Boris Gruzmann (2218/Germany).