Online chess 'Ironman' rules Asian Seniors tiff

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines' Joey Antonio showed his mastery of “online chess” as he blew away the competition to crown himself champion of the First Asian Seniors Championship Tuesday night.

Living up to his reputation as the "Ironman" of the online game, Antonio, a 58-year-old Grandmaster, took the title by storm and scored 7.5 points out of the possible nine, or a full point ahead of eventual second placer, fourth seed GM Tair Vahidov of Uzbekistan with 6.5.

Tied for first with countryman International Master Ricky de Guzman after the fifth round with 4.5 points apiece, won his next two games while the latter lost three straight and cruised to the crown from there.

Antonio, a 13-time national champion and 10-time Olympian, then split the point with Uzbek GMs, third seed Alexei Barsov and top pick Saidali Iuldachev, in the seventh and eighth round, respectively, before crushing a lowly Nassir Wajih of India in the last round to nail the title.

It was a victory that gave the Calapan, Oriental Mindoro native confidence as he competes for the Philippine team seeing action in the first FIDE Online Olympiad that started Wednesday.

“I have too many people to thank and GM JP is one of them for helping me restore the confidence in myself by giving up his slot in the Olympic qualifier,” said Antonio, referring to John Paul Gomez.

Given a second chance by Gomez, Antonio delivered and clinched the fourth and last spot to the team that will be spearheaded by GMs Mark Paragua, Banjo Barcenilla and Darwin Laylo.

De Guzman, who topped the Zone 3.3 eliminations ahead of National Master Rudy Ibanez and Antonio last week, blew his title chances with three defeats in row from the sixth to the eighth round.

He clobbered Jamal Md. Mohsin of Bangladesh in the final round to preserve a fourth-place finish with 5.5 points.

Ibanez made it to the top 10 with four points.