INQUIRER Sports

FILIPINO chess players made their presence felt in the third round of the rapid chess event in the 3rd Asian Indoor Games yesterday, with GM Mark Paragua and GM Rogelio “Joey” Antonio Jr. leading the charge with crucial victories over lowly-rated rivals in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The Tondo, Manila-born Paragua, who lost to GM Anton Filippov of Uzbekistan in the second round, bounced back in contention after thrashing Liu Yeh Yang of Chinese-Taipe in the third round while Antonio, a native of Sta. Mesa, Manila, who lost to GM Pentala Harikrishna of India in the second round defeated Russell M K A of Sri. Lanka.

Paragua, who beat Ashraf Ahmed of Maldives in the first round will face GM Murtas Kazhgaleyev of Kazakhstan in the fourth round while Antonio, who brought down Atsuhiko Kobayashi of Japan in the opening round, goes up against IM Ahmad Azizjawad Obada of Iraq.

Paragua and Antonio, and eight others are tied at 7th to 16th places with identical 2.0 points each.

GM Bu Xiangzhi and GM Wang Hao of China beat their respective rivals to share the lead with 3.0 points each. Bu bested GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam while Hao nipped Kazhgaleyev.

Meanwhile, in the Team Blitz event, second seed China needed three game match-ups to beat fourth seed Iran, 2-2, 2-2, 2-1, and arranged a titular showdown for the coveted gold medal with the host country and third seeded Vietnam, who clobbered top seed India, 2-2, 3.5-0.5.

Over the weekend, Antonio, a sergeant at the HSSG of the Philippine Army under Commanding Lt. Gen. Delfin Bangit, finished unbeaten with eight wins and a draw on board 2 and has been considered the Blitz King of the Philippines.

Despite Antonio’s unbeaten record, the Nationals could only manage 5th place overall after losing to Iran, 1.5-2.5, in the preliminary round.