Three golds realistic, five a bonus for Pinoy GM

A confident Grandmaster Joey Antonio doesn’t worry much about the opposition when action in chess competitions of the 23rd Southeast Asian Games begins tomorrow at the Tagaytay Convention Center in Tagaytay City.

What concerns him most is how he would be able to survive the rigors of playing almost without rest in the nine-day tournament, which is expected to test not only his mental toughness and patience but his stamina as well.

"That’s the only problem I see but I prepared hard and enough for this. So it will be a question of how well I pace myself," said Antonio, the only player in the nine-man RP men’s squad who will be seeing action in all events — standard (individual and team), rapid (individual and team) and blitz.

The 42-year-old Olympiad veteran is actually eyeing a realistic goal of three gold medals but added he could go for a sweep given the breaks and the support of his teammates in the event which stakes a total of eight gold medals, including five in the men’s side.

"A three-gold medal haul is a realistic goal, a sweep of the five events would be a bonus," said Antonio, who hopes to come out strong in the qualifying event of rapid chess at 9 a.m. tomorrow and vie for the medal round on Monday.

He resumes his bid the next day, this time in the one-day rapid team event with fellow GMs Eugene Torre and Nelson Mariano II and IMs Barlo Nadera and Petronio Roca.

The standard chess will begin Nov. 30 with two rounds slated where Antonio and Torre will be joined in by the country’s young turks in IM Ronald Dableo, last year’s Asian Zonal champion, FIDE Master Oliver Dimakiling and NM Oliver Barbosa. Antonio also heads the RP blitz cast along with IM Jayson Gonzales, Mariano, Dableo and Dimakiling.

Antonio kicks off his bid in the blitz tournament slated at 9 a.m. on Dec. 1 and will have to re-orient himself for round 3 of the standard event in the afternoon. The next two rounds of standard chess will be played the next day while the semifinal and the finals of the blitz is set Dec. 3. The final three rounds of standard are slated Dec. 4-5.

With Indon GM Utut Adianto and Vietnam’s SuperGM Dao Thien Hai out of the Games to play in other events, the country’s chances for the overall crown brighten up all the more although Antonio said Vietnam and Indonesia remain a force to reckon with.

Actually, the Philippines also suffered a loss in manpower as the country’s top-rated player — Mark Paragua — will not be around in favor of a stint in the World Cup, slated in the same week of the SEA Games.

Meanwhile, Dableo, who broke into national consciousness when he topped the Asian Zonal last year, said Paragua, the most bemedalled athlete in the last SEAG in Vietnam with three gold medals, will be missed but maintained it is but fair that he wasn’t included in the squad since he failed to qualify during the tryouts. — With report from Michelle Velete