RP chessers rip Algeria

DRESDEN, Germany – Grandmaster Darwin Laylo provided the all-important victory as the Philippines brought down opening-day winner Algeria, 2.5-1.5, in the second round of the 2008 World Chess Olympiad at the International Congress Center here.

Laylo, who is making his third straight appearance in the world’s biggest chess stage following stints in the Olympiad in Calvia, Spain in 2004 and Turin, Italy two years ago, crushed IM Mohamed Haddouche in their board four encounter.

The 28-year-old campaigner emerged from the opening battle with a slightly better position, kept the pressure in a rook and bishop endgame and went on to win the match in 61 moves of the Scandinavian.

GMs Buenaventura “Bong” Villamayor and Wesley So and IM John Paul Gomez settled for a draw against their respective opponents to ensure the Filipinos’ two points in the match point-style scoring system being used in the Olympiad for the first time in 38 years.

Villamayor, playing the top board despite having the lowest rating among the five Filipino players here, drew with GM Aimen Rizouk (Elo 2507).

So, who provided the Filipinos’ lone victory over China with a dramatic upset win over super GM Ni Hua, halved the point with IM Kamil Sebih in 30 moves of the Queen’s Indian on board two.

And Gomez followed up a hard-fought draw with GM Li Chao of China with the same result against Tarek Goutali in 36 moves of the Philidor on board three.

Against the highly-rated Chinese juggernaut, Villamayor and GM Jayson Gonzales overlooked winning opportunities under severe time pressure and lost.

There were no such problems against the less-experienced Algerians, prompting non-playing team captain GM Eugene Torre and coach Idelfonso Datu to heave a big sigh of relief.

The morale-boosting win by the Filipinos on another extremely cold day on this emerging German city noted for its rich history of arts and culture set them up for a third-round encounter against Monaco.

Monaco, led by Russian defector GM Igor Efimov, swept Bermuda, 4-0.

The Filipinas, however, were not as fortunate.

Top board player Catherine Perena missed a clear win against IM Yelena Dembo in the Filipinas’ 1-3 loss to highly-rated Greece.

Perena turned down draw overtures by Dembo (ELO 2446) twice during the hard-fought match but failed to find the right continuation in what was thought to be a winning endgame and lost the match.

Also dropping her match was University of Santo Tomas standout Shercila Cua, who succumbed to WGM Ana Maria Botsari on the second board.

World Youth Chess Championship campaigner Christy Lamiel Bernales also blew a winning opportunity and settled for a draw with WIM Mona Salman on board four.

Cheradee Chardina Camacho also agreed to a draw with WGM Marina Makropolou.

The loss left the Cesar Caturla-mentored Filipinas with one point in the 11-round tournament which attracted a record 119 teams .

NOTES – The Dresden Olympiad organizers reported that the Philippines leads four other countries with most reports about the 2008 Olympiad even before the start of the actual competitions. “In the home country of Eugenio Torre and Florencio Campomanes, more than twice as many Olympiad reports have been published. Most reports on the Dresden Olympiad have been written in the Philippines. Several articles have appeared in the country’s newspapers almost every week.” the report said. The other four nations leading the publication rankings are India, United States, Nigeria and Argentina...Twenty-eight of the world’s top 32 players boasting of ELO 2700 rating, led by GMs Vasily Ivanchuk (ELO 2786) and Vladimir Kramnik (EO 2772) are seeing action in the Olympiad... GM Susan Polgar of Hungary was named the Chess Ambassador by the Dresen Olympiad organizers.