INQUIRER Sports

SUBIC - Grandmaster Rogelio ?Joey? Antonio Jr. continued his fiery surge in the 2009 Asian Continental individual chess championship Monday night, besting Indian GM Abhijeet Gupta to gain ground on the pacesetters after six rounds at the Subic Exhibition and Convention Center here.

Flashing the form that saw him win 10 of 11 tournaments in the United States late last year, Antonio downed Gupta in 42 moves of a Bogo Indian to climb to 4.5 points, just half a point behind co-leaders GM Chanda Sandipan of India and GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam halfway through the 11-round event.

?The position was complicated and he (Gupta) made a mistake by offering a pawn,? said Antonio, an 11-time national champion playing out of the Philippine Army-HHSG. ?I was able to force a queen exchange and was two pawns up in the end.?

Top Filipino hope GM Wesley So trounced China?s Gao Rui and vaulted back into contention with 4.0 points.

Stalled by back-to-back draws, So wasted no time attacking Gao with white, extracting the victory after 27 moves of a Najdorf-Sicilian variation.

?Finally, I won again,? said So, the country?s highest rated player and seeded second among 85 players entered in the Open division of the event organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines in cooperation with the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.

Other Filipinos who emerged triumphant Monday were GMs Mark Paragua and Eugene Torre, who disposed of Fide Masters Jasem Alhuwar and Awam Wahono, respectively.

Paragua improved to 3.5 points while Torre rekindled his bid with 3.0 points.

Not as fortunate were GM John Paul Gomez and IM Rolando Nolte, who yielded to IM Moh Mad Al Sayed and Bangladeshi GM Enamul Hossain in succession to remain at 3.0 points.

In the fifth round Sunday night, Antonio bested Alhuwar while So showed his endgame prowess by forcing Indian GM Abhijit Kunte to a draw despite having only three pawns against the Indian?s five in a pawn-and-bishop ending.

So also drew his fourth-round match with Uzbek GM Saidali Iuldachev.

Sandipan, ranked 15th with an Elo of 2558, rocked the tournament by trouncing compatriot and top seed Krishnan Sasikiran (Elo 2682) with black.

Le, on the other hand, dumped GM Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh to match Sandipan?s 5.0 points.

IM Richard Bitoon, who remained unscathed like Antonio, was still tackling Uzbek GM Anton Filippov at presstime. Bitoon, the reigning Singapore Open champion, totes 3.5 points.

Also taking on different opponents were IM Julio Catalino Sadorra (3.0 points) against GM Ngen Anh Dung of Vietnam and GM Darwin Laylo against GM Niaz Murshed and IM OLiver Dimakiling (3.0) against Kunte.

Also with 4.5 points were Iranian GM Elshan Moradiabadi and Indian GM Surya Shekha Ganguly.

Leading the women?s division after five rounds were China?s Ju Wenjun and WIM Zhang Xiaowen with 4.5 each.