GM Antonio to play in D’Engineers basketball

CHESS grandmaster and basketball enthusiast Rogelio “Joey” Antonio Jr. has confirmed his participation as a guest player in the 2nd PTC World Engineering Day basketball tournament set to start on Saturday, March 2, at Koten Enterprise in Pasay City.

The 62-year-old Antonio will see action in the exhibition game between the Institute of Integrated Electrical Engineers (IIEE) and the PTC World composed of players from the Philippine Technological Council (PTC) and all other engineering associations which will be played before the championship game on March 24.

Last year, the IIEE claimed the championship in both age categories: the Millennials (40-below) and the Gen X (40-above).

Vying for the Millennials title this year are the IIEE, Philippine Society of Mechanical Engineers (PSME), Institute of Electronic Engineers of the Philippines (IECEP) and Society of Aerospace Engineers of the Philippines (SAEP).

The tournament will have a single round robin and a crossover semifinal format.

In the Gen X, only three teams — IIEE, PSME and IECEP — will see action.

A new addition for this year, however, is the 3-on-3 tournament with maximum six players per team and six engineering associations has confirmed participation such as the IIEE, PSME, IECEP, SAEP, Philippine Society of Sanitary Engineers (PSSE) and the Society of Metallurgical Engineers of the Philippines (SMEP) which will be fielding two teams.

The registration for the 3-on-3 event is still open.

On March 24, a chess tournament among the engineers will be held at Koten Enterprise with National Master Marlon Bernardino as chief arbiter.

Last year’s top four chess winner are Jose Caumban of IIEE, Gunnar Abelido of PSME, Eric Frigillana of IIEE and James Guevarra of IIEE in the men’s division and Analyn Cueto of IIEE, Flordeliza Tenorio Manalo of IIEE, Maricris Vines of Piche and Ezra Pondivilla of SAEP in the women’s.