Severino in near miss; Antonio triumphs

MANILA, Philippines — FIDE Master Sander Severino drew with Grandmaster Martin Tazbir of Poland in the fifth and final round to finish tied for first and eventually second after tiebreaks in the First FIDE Online Cup for People with Disabilities yesterday.

GM Joey Antonio, meanwhile, swept all his nine games to rule the Chesstropolis Swiss tournament Thursday night.

Severino and the top-seeded Tazbir ended up both undefeated with 4.5 points on four wins and a draw but the latter took the crown after the second tiebreaker was applied, winning by the smallest of margin, 10.5-10.

It was an impressive performance for the 34-year-old Silay, Negros Occidental native nonetheless as he won against other titled players like International Master Yuri Meshkov of Russia, FM Vit Valenta of the Czech Republic and Woman IM Natasha Morales Santos.

“My dream is to become world champion and I consider this as part of my journey,” said Severino, a multiple gold-medal winner in the Asian and ASEAN Para Games.

Severino, who pocketed 400 euros or P22,000 for his feat, said he is preparing for the IPCA World Championship in Israel and the first World Chess Olympiad for the differently able, which were all reset to next year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.