MANILA – RP’s veteran Grandmasters (GM) Eugene Torre and Rogelio “Joey” Antonio Jr. hurdle their fifth round assignments in the on-going 5th Prospero A. Pichay, Jr. Cup Chess Championship in Diliman, Quezon City.

The wins have created a seven-way tie for first place with GMs Darwin Laylo, Mikhael Michedlishvili and Merab Gagunashvili of Georgia, GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami of Iran and GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son of Vietnam.
All of them now have 4 points after five rounds of play.

According to Edmundo Gatus of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP), Torre beat Indian GM Abhijeet Gupta after 42 moves of Trompovsky Opening, while Antonio defeated Armenian GM Tigran Kotanjian after 42 moves of Sicilian Defense, Alapin variation late Sunday.

“Maganda ang nilalaro ngayon ni Eugene (GM Torre), nakuha na niya na talaga ang momentum, hope mapanatili niya,” said Gatus.

“Si Joey (GM Antonio) muli niyang pinakita ang pagiging beterano niyang player, y’ung maganda niyang style na go for win, nandun y’ung strong determination n’ya,” Gatus, meanwhile, said of Antonio’s performance.

Still in contention of the 9 round Swiss-system-tournament organized by NCFP president Prospero “Butch” Pichay Jr., are GMs John Paul Gomez, Mark Paragua, Anton Filippov of Uzbekistan, Thien Hai of Vietnam, Das Neelotpal of India and Zhang Zhong of Singapore.

They all have 3.5 points each for a 6-way tie. Marlon Bernardino