Antonio faces lowly foe in chess opener

Grandmaster Joey Antonio hopes to come out strong against Ak Hirawan Mohd Omar of Brunei and jumpstart his bid in the individual category of the rapid event of the chess competitions of the 23rd Southeast Asian Games unfolding today at the Tagaytay Convention Center in Tagaytay City.

Antonio, ranked fifth in a field of 13, is fancied to hurdle his Bruneian rival in their two-game knockout match spread over 25 minutes with 10 seconds increment. He needs to win three games to reach the finals where he hopes to face fellow GM Eugene Torre.

Other first round matches pit Susanto Megaranto of Indonesia against Nicholas Chan of Malaysia, Myo Naing of Myanmar versus Le Quang Liem of Vietnam, Wu Shao Bin of Singapore against Mas Hafizulhelmi of Malaysia, and Denny Juswanto of Indonesia versus Goh Jason of Singapore.

Torre, third seed here, and the top two ranked players — Wynn Zaw Htun of Myanmar and Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son of Vietnam — drew byes in the first round.

"It’s possible that Eugene and I will face each other for the gold but we need to win three games to reach the finals," said Antonio, eyeing to become the most bemedalled athlete in the biennial games.

Antonio is entered in all five events in the men’s competitions, including the team championship in rapid, the standard (team and individual) and blitz, slated on Dec. 3.

Joining Antonio and Torre in the rapid team event are GM Nelson Mariano II and IMs Barlo Nadera and Petronio Roca.

The country’s top two GMs outside of Mark Paragua, who is set to start his own bid for chess glory in the World Cup in Russia also today, will also spearhead the country’s bid in the standard event where it is the defending champion. Backstopping the team are IM and last year’s Asian Zonals champion Ronald Dableo, FIDE Master Oliver Dimakiling and NM Oliver Barbosa.

The Filipinos are also fancied in the blitz tournament with Antonio leading a talented squad, which includes IM Jayson Gonzales, Mariano, Dableo and Dimakiling.