Antonio keeps share of lead in World Senior Chess Championship

MANILA, Philippines – Grandmaster Joey Antonio drew with top seed GM Julio Granda Zuniga of Peru in 56 moves of a Sicilian Defense to keep a share of the lead with five others after six rounds in the 50-and-above division of the 27th World Senior Chess Championship in Acqui Teme, Italy Sunday night.

The 55-year-old Antonio, whose rating of 2431 pales in comparison to his foe’s 2650, gave up a pawn to neutralize Granda Zuniga’s connected pair of central passed pawns to eke out a draw that enabled the former to hang on to the lead.

He shares it with Granda Zuniga, GM Zurab Sturua of Georgia, GM Eric Prie of France and International Masters Alexander Reprintsev of Ukraine and Oliver Brendel of Germany.

In the 65-and-above section, GM Eugene Torre turned back untitled German Matthias Kierzek in 54 moves of a Bogo-Indian duel to close in on the leaders.

Torre, 66, grinded his way out of a cramped position and then pounced on Kierzek’s endgame blunder to escape with the win and hike his total to 4.5 points, or just half a point behind a six-man lead group headed by top seed GM Anatoly Vaisser of France with five points.

Also on top were GM Vlastimil Jansa of the Czech Republic, IM Arkady Shevelev of Israel, GM Vladimir Okhotnik of France, GM Yuri Balashov of Russia and FIDE Master Christina Hess of Germany.

The nine-round, Swiss System tournament took a break yesterday and will resume tonight with Antonio battling Prie and Torre tackling FM Boris Gutkin of Israel.