RP chessers end stint with 4 silvers

TAGAYTAY — The Philippines closed out its stint in chess the way it started it — on a frustrating note — as WIM Beverly Mendoza and WFM Sheerie Joy Lomibao dropped their final round assignments and bombed out of the medal race at the close of the 23rd Southeast Asian Games at the Tagaytay City Convention Center here yesterday.

GMs Eugene Torre and Joey Antonio likewise drew their final round matches and dropped out of the medal race in the individual event of the standard chess as the Filipino chessers went home without a gold medal in the sport they were expected to dominate.

Instead, it was Vietnam, which came up with a stirring performance as it swept the 8 gold medals staked in the sport in an overpowering show of talent, leaving the hosts with just four silver medals and three bronzes.

Mendoza and Lomibao, just half-a-point behind Viet Nguyen Thi Thanh An heading into the final round, went for the win and a chance for a gold with the white pieces but instead got beaten by a pair of Vietnamese in Le Thanh Tu and Tran Thi Kim Loan and finished in joint fourth.

Thi Thanh An went on to bag the individual gold and the Viet squad ran away with the team championship, completing the rare sweep of the Vietnamese of the eight events in the sport which the Filipinos used to rule with authority.

Shercila Cua, co-leader after 7 rounds, lost her last two games and finished with five points. The RP ladies settled for silver in the team event, the same finish made by the Torre-Antonio-led squad in the men’s side.

The two other silvers for RP came from the blitz (Oliver Dimakiling) and rapid team, while Torre (rapid-individual), Antonio (blitz), Catherine Pereña (blitz) accounted for the three bronze medals.

GM Nguyen Ngoc Truongson, the 15-year-old whiz, emerged as the most bemedalled athlete in the group, winning four gold medals and a bronze as Vietnam re-staked its claim as the chess power in the region.

Vietnam finished the standard team event with 24.5 points, four more than the hosts, while Indonesia took the bronze with 18.5 points.