RP chessers draw with tough Argentina

KHANTY-Mansiysk, Russia – Grandmaster Wesley So outdueled GM Diego Flores as the Philippines battled to a 2-2 draw with Argentina and remained within striking distance of a Top 20 finish in the 39th World Chess Olympiad Friday.

So, playing the top board for the Filipinos for the first time since making his Olympiad debut in Turin, Italy in 2006, handled the black pieces with uncharacteristic aggression and capitalized on a sprinkling of errors by the lower-rated Argentinian champion (Elo 2615) to carve out a morale-boosting win in 49 moves of the Benoni.

So, who will turn 17 on Oct. 9, gave up a knight for three pawns on the 26th move and wisely kept the 26-year-old Flores on the edge of his seat with brilliant rook and knight moves. The Filipino champion, who earned his GM title during the Pichay Cup in 2007, later promoted his c-pawn to a queen and forced the Argentinian to resign four moves later.

In the final position, So had a queen, rook and three pawns against Flores’ rook, knight and four pawns.

Argentina, however, struck back with a victory by GM Fernando Peralta over GM Eugene Torre by time forfeit after 40 moves of the Double Queen’s Pawn opening.

The two other matches – GM John Paul Gomez against GM Ruben Felgaer and IM Richard Bitoon against GM Pablo Lafuente – ended in draws.

Gomez salvaged a draw with the higher-rated Felgaer (Elo 2597) in 57 moves of the French defense despite being two pawns down, while Bitoon split the point with Lafuente (Elo 2565) in 64 moves of the English in almost identical position.

Still, the draw was enough to put the 37th-seeded Filipinos in a tie for 31st to 44th places with 12 points on five wins, two draws and three losses.

After the Sonneborn-Berger tiebreak, the Filipinos are in 31st place, or six notches higher than their starting rank of 37th place.

Overall, the Philippines was six points behind solo leader Ukraine and five points behind top seed Russia-1 going into the 11th and final round Sunday.

After the final rest day on Saturday, the Filipinos look for a better finish than their 46th-place showing during the Dresden Olympiad two years ago when they return to action for final-round showdown against No. 48 seed Estonia.

Estonia, led by GMs Kaido Kulaots (ELO 2592) and Meelis Kanep (ELO 2532), lost to No. 25 Greece, 1.5-2.5.

In the women’s division, the Philippines absorbed a heart-breaking 1.5-2.5 defeat to Southeast Asian rival Indonesia.

The decisive point was lost when WFM Catherine Perena dropped her board two match to Vina Lestari.

Cheradee Chardina Camacho drew with WGM Irine Kharisma Sukandar as did Rulp Ylem Jose against Citra Dewi and Jedara Docena against Monica Sihite.

The result left the Filipinas in a tie for 50th 65th places with 10 points on four wins, two draws and four losses based on the match point-style scoring system that gives two points for a win, one point for a draw and zero for a loss.

 The Filipinas’ final-round assignment will be against No. 61 Brazil, which lost to Spain,.5-3.5, in the 10th round.

National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) president Prospero “Butch” Pichay expressed confidence that both the men’s and women’s team will surpass their previous finish in the Dresden Olympiad.

“I like our chances with still one round left. It’s all up to our players now,” said Pichay, who joined the 13-man Filipino delegation last Sept. 25.

Also with the team are NCFP executive director Wilie Abalos and coaches Atty. Edmund Legaspi and Cesar Caturla.

The team returns to the country on Oct. 4.