Antonio beats rival in 3 moves

Grandmaster Joey Antonio whipped IM Alexander Reprintsev of Ukraine in just three moves in the fourth round and jumped to a share of second place in the Open 50+ division of the 27th World Senior Chess Championships late Friday in Acqui Terme, Italy.

Antonio posted one of the quickest wins in years after Reprintsev unwittingly dropped the queen on the b5 square, a mistake that enabled Antonio to capture his Queen.

Antonio, 55, improved to 3.5 points, just half a point behind solo leader and unbeaten GM Zuniga Julio Granda of Peru, on three wins and one draw.

Antonio next meets FM Pavel Certek of Slovakia, who also carries 3.5 points following a victory over Ibrahim Tofan of Turkey.

Meantime, Grandmaster Eugene Torre settled for a draw and slipped to 37th place in the Open

o6n5+ division. By splitting the point with FIDE Master Boris Gruzmann of Germany, Torre, 66, slightly improved to 2.5 points.