Antonio upbeat as Pinoys gear up for Olympiad

MANILA, Philippines – Grandmaster Joey Antonio knows the Online Olympiad 2020 task would entail a lot of hard work, workload and teamwork but the veteran campaigner believes they’ll measure up fast against the best in the world in the rapid tournament held in place of classical chess beginning Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Sander Severino is another Filipino seeing action in the Olympiad, tapped to play top board for the International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA) team.

“It will take a lot of effort, that’s for sure. But I think we have the talent and skills to pull off a big surprise,” said Antonio, who clinched the last berth in the national team roster by besting International Master Paolo Bersamina in a playoff.

The 13-time national champion with 10 Olympiad stints actually needed a “surprise” move from fellow GM John Paul Gomez to get into the mix as the latter relinquished his spot, enabling the former to join the recent qualifiers.

“I was really surprised but I’m really thankful,” said Antonio.

The team, led by GMs Mark Paragua, Banjo Barcenilla and Darwin Laylo, should also be grateful to have the 58-year-old ace into its fold as Antonio would be providing not only the experience and poise but also the proverbial momentum, having posted a number of online victories since the coronavirus outbreak in mid-March.

In fact, he has logged a record 160,000 games online, including 200 daily, earning him the Ironman of chess.com tag.

“I’m just so passionate playing chess,” said the former University of Manila standout, who is also eyeing a strong finish, along with the other local masters, in the Asian Seniors Online Chess firing off tomorrow. Joey Villar