GRANDMASTER Rogelio “Joey” Antonio Jr. was crowned champion in the 34th Erkel Memorial Blitz Chess Championships held in Gyula, Hungary, on Tuesday. The Filipino chess grandmaster was unbeaten in the 7-round Swiss system tournament and finished with 6.5 points to secure the championship. GM Antonio opened the FIDE-rated tournament with back-to-back wins against Yuriy Pak of Kazakhstan and Sandor Kakuk of Hungary before drawing his third game against compatriot FIDE Master Mario Mangubat. He bounced back by defeating his next four opponents — Raghuraman Gububaran of India, FIDE Master Vedant Goswani of India, Kornel Tamas of Hungary and Erik Zsigmond Balogh of Hungary — to clinch the crown. Gububaran, whose only loss was against GM Antonio, scored 6.0 points and bagged runner-up honors. Mangubat, who scored 5.5 points, placed third in the blitz event that employed a five-minute time control with a five-second increment. “I am happy with my performance,” said Antonio, who remained active in the international chess circuit at age 64. Antonio and Mangubat are now playing in the 34th Erkel Memorial Chess Championships and will join the FIDE World Senior Chess Championships starting next week in Vrnjacka Banja, Serbia. GM Antonio’s campaign in Europe is being supported by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) chairman Alejandro Tengco, Philippine Sports Commission chairman John Patrick Gregorio, PSC commissioner Ed Hayco, National Chess Federation of the Philippines chairman Prospero Pichay Jr. and Philippine Economic Zone Authority director general Tereso Panga. FM Mangubat is backed by Pagcor. TMT