Ageless Antonio scoops up three more chess trophies

MANILA, Philippines – Grandmaster Joey Antonio is living up to his online chess ironman tag.

The ageless Antonio added three more titles in his massive collection of online triumphs with wins in the 5th ECC-Rosalina 68th Birthday Cup, GCC Arena and 5th Kap Edwin Arena Thursday night.

Antonio scored 15 points in the ECC, 84 in the GCC and 58 in the Kap Edwin to complete a three-peat feat on the day.

The recent feats underscored the 58-year-old Antonio’s reputation as one of the country’s top wood pushers being a 13-time national champion and 10-time Olympiad veteran.

He is equally strong online after he already logged more than 160,000 games or about 500,000 hours.

When COVID0-19 pandemic happened, Antonio even raised the ante and plays an average of 100 to 200 games a day, more than half of them on tournaments or arenas.

“For me chess is life,” said Antonio, who placed second to United States-based Mark Paragua in the Battle of GMs last month.

Recently, Antonio finished tied for first and eventually third after tiebreaks applied in the Asian Seniors Zone 3.3 qualifier and made it to the team that will represent the country in the first FIDE Online Olympiad.