13-time Philippine Open Champion Grandmaster Rogelio "Joey" Antonio Jr. (elo 2427) lost to Israeli Grandmaster (GM) Lev Psakhis (elo 2461) in 44 moves of Sicilian defense, Alapin variation, and blew his chance to be in contention for the title after the tenth and penultimate round of the FIDE World Seniors 2019 Chess Championships at the Rin Grand Hotel in Bucharest, Romania on Friday.
"Antonio missed a winning move on the 28th. Instead of Ra7, the Filipino grandmaster could have pulled the trigger with d5!" said Olongapo City based and Malaysia chess champion Glenn Hullana Garcia, who watched the game live thru chess24.com.
With the setback, Antonio remains at 6.0 points and was dropped into a tie for 25th-40th placers in the 50 and above category. Fide Master (FM) Cesar Caturla (elo 2276) lost to Russian International Master (IM) Evgenij Kalegin (elo 2431) in 44 moves of English Opening. Caturla miscalculates on the 19th move with a dubious knight sacrifice on e6 instead of the safer Qd2 allowing his opponent to gain material advantage. Caturla was stuck at 6.5 points. He shares 15-31st places in the 65 over section. International Master (IM) Angelo Young (elo 2288) halved the point with American Grandmaster Master (GM) Alex Yermolinsky (elo 2498) in 132 moves of Catalan Opening game. Young raised his total 7.0 points, and was tied at 7th-14th places in the 50 and above class.
In the eleventh and final round, Young will meet Grandmaster (GM) Darcy Lima (elo 2540) of Brazil; Antonio opposite Sergei V. Ivanov (elo 2138) of Russia while Caturla versus Fide Master (FM) Lincoln Lucena (elo 2112) of Brazil.-Marlon Bernardino-
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