Chessers seal duel for gold vs China

GUANGZHOU – Grandmasters Eugene Torre and Joey Antonio provided the sparkle as their young compatriots collapsed under severe pressure and gave the Philippines a shock 2.5-1.5 win over second seed and world No. 8 India and a place in the final against China last night at the Guangzhou Chess Institute.

On board 2, Antonio (Elo 2573) used his pet defense, the Sicilian, to hack out a full point over Indian super-GM Krishnan Sasikiran, India’s highest rated player (2688), who was assigned to second board to give India better scoring opportunities.

On board 3, GM John Paul Gomez drew with super GM Shekhar Surya Ganguly (Elo 2644) in 55 moves of the French Defense.

Antonio and Torre went for the win after top board player GM Wesley So (Elo 2669) found himself at the losing end of a Gruenfeld Defense in his match with India’s no. 2 P Harikrisna and resigned after only 32 moves.

“Our objective is to go for the win, and in situations like this, our veteran chess players (Torre, 59, and Antonio, 48) always deliver,” said team manager Willy Abalos.

The victory was a repeat of the Filipinos’ 2.5-1.5 win over the same team in the fifth round.

The Filipinos, already assured of a silver, the country’s third, go all out today for the gold medal against world no. 3 and top seed China, which also took a 2.5-1.5 win over Iran.

Antonio, who fought his way back to the team by winning the Tuguegarao Open after he was suspended for missing two big tournaments back home, turned a slight initiative into a brilliant victory over the higher-rated Sasikiran in their thrilling board-two encounter.

The 48-year-old pride of Calapan, Oriental Mindoro forced the Indian champion to give up his rook for a knight on the 35th move and steered the match into an endgame where he had a rook, bishop and four pawns against his opponent’s two bishops and five pawns.

Antonio threatened to gobble up Sasikiran’s remaining pawn that would have paved the way for his two pawns’ promotion when the Indian resigned.

Not to be outdone, the 59-year-old Torre still showed he’s got what it takes to win crucial games, baffling Gopal with his fine handling of the KID then pouncing on his rival’s blunder on the 48th where the latter lost his queen on a discovered check.

The higher-rated Gopal resigned immediately.