Tagaytay guns for fifth straight Merdeka title

MANILA, Philippines - Team Tagaytay City, bannered by Grandmasters Joey Antonio and Darwin Laylo, will gun for an unprecedented fifth straight crown when it stakes its title anew in the 29th Astro Merdeka Open Team Chess Championship slated Aug. 29-31 at the Ballroom of CitiTel Midvalley Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The 47-year old Antonio, a permanent fixture of the team that won the last four championships, will man the top board for Tagaytay-RP, while Laylo will occupy Board 2. The other members of the four-man squad are Samson Lim at Board 3 and Willie Abalos, also the executive director of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines, at Board 4.

Antonio, a 12-time National Open champion, and Laylo both qualified for the World Chess Cup 2009 slated on Nov. 20-Dec. 15 in Khanty, Mansiyk, Russia along with 15-year old GM Wesley So, the country’s highest rated chess grandmaster.

“It;’s a good preparation for us. We will try out best to win again,” said Antonio, who will leave for Kuala Lumpur along with Abalos today.   Laylo is already in Malaysia and is currently seeing action in the individual championship of the same tournament.

At least two other teams from the Philippines, one led by IM Ronald Dableo and the other backstopped by National Master Emmanuel Senador, are also joining the nine-round, Swiss System tournament which had set 2250 as the average rating during play.

Expected to crowd the Filipinos for the title are the teams from China, Vietnam, Singapore and host Malaysia, although Team Tagaytay remains as the favorite to repeat as champions.

NCFP secretary-general and Tagaytay City Mayor Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, who bankrolled the team’s trip to Malaysia, expressed confidence that the Antonio-led squad will once again bring home the title.