FILIPINO Grandmaster Rogelio “Joey” Antonio Jr., defeated Slovakian Fide Master (FM) Pavel Certek (2295) in 79 moves of a London System Opening to gain a share of the lead in Sunday’s fifth round of the ongoing 27th World Senior Chess Championship 2017 (50+ and 65+ Open-men and women) in Acqui Terme, Italy.
Antonio (2431), the sixth seed in this 11-round Swiss system tournament, hiked his total to 4.5 points in a tie with overnight solo leader and top seed GM Julio Granda Zuniga of Peru (2650), who only managed a draw with No. 3 GM Zurab Sturua of Georgia (2536) in 32 moves of Queens Pawn game transposition.
Antonio and Zuniga will slug it out for the solo lead in Monday’s sixth round.
Trailing Antonio and Zuniga at 4.0 points are Sturua, No.4 GM Klaus Bischoff of Germany (2513), No. 5 GM Eric Prie of France (2482) , No.8 IM Evgenij Kalegin of Russia (2426), No.9 GM Giorgi Bagaturov of Georgia (2399), No.10 IM Alexander Reprintsev of Ukraine (2361), No.13 IM Oliver Brendel of Germany (2334) and No.20 IM Devaki V Prasad of India (2290).