GM Rogelio Antonio, Jr. moved within a draw from becoming the first Filipino chess millionaire by beating NM Enrique Paciencia for the second straight time yesterday in their best-of-four duel for the P1-million prize in the Chess Pambansa Millennium Grand Prix at the PNB Finance Center in Pasay.
The victory was swift, solid and convincing with Antonio needing only 26 moves to trample Paciencia's Petroff Defense and go 2-up in the series fast turning out what keen observers predicted to be -- a mismatch.
It also underscored Antonio's overwhelming edge in skills and talent over Paciencia, the 49th-ranked player who now seemed to have run out of surprises after pulling off one big win after the other in the qualifiers up to the semis when he upended third seed IM Bong Villamayor.
The triumph also showed Antonio's thorough preparations against all his opponents as he overpowered Paciencia in the latter's pet opening with the black pieces.
"I knew before hand that he would be using Petroff, that's why I came in prepared," said Antonio. "As far as I know, I have a high winning percentage of 90 when I play against Petroff."
Thus, the 38-year-old Antonio, bracing for the Asian Zonals in Vietnam next month, needs only a draw to formalize his claim as the millennium champion and to the P1-million pot put up by Real Bank.
Well-armed and equipped with the latest theories of usually quiet Petroff Defense, Antonio quickly swooped down on Paciencia's weak Queen move on the 17th, which enabled the Quezon City-based Antonio to regain a pawn he sacrificed in the opening and set up a queenside attack.