GM Antonio forces draw on foe, remains at No.2

FILIPINO Grandmaster ( GM) Joey Antonio settled for a draw in the ninth round to stay No. 2 in the 27th World Senior Chess Championship men’s open 50+ division being held in Acqui Teme, Italy.

Antonio agreed to a draw with GM Zurab Sturua of Georgia to improve his score to seven points - full point behind top seed and tournament leader Julio Granda Zuniga of Peru who has eight points on seven wins and two draws.

With two rounds left, Antonio must win his last two games to earn the top honors in the tournament sanctioned by the International Chess Federation.

He will be meeting ninth seed GM Giorgi Bagaturov of Georgia in the 10th round.

On the other hand, Asia’s first GM Eugene Torre bounced back with a sterling victory over International Master ( IM) Janez Barle of Slovenia in the ninth to stay in contention in the men’s 65+ open category.

The 66-year old Torre raised his score to 6.5 points to barge into the fourth place along with 10 other players.

GM Vlastimil Jansa of the Czech Republic holds the solo lead with 7.5 points while sixth seed GM Bladimir Okhotnik of France and 22nd seed IM Arkady Shevele of Israel are in a two-way tie for second with seven points each.

Torre needs another win against IM Herman Van Riemsdijk of Brazil in the 10th round for a possible podium finish in the event that drew more than 300 players from 51 countries.