Barbosa brilliant win lifts team: Pinoys ambush Bulgarians

MANILA, Philippines – Grandmaster Oliver Barbosa turned an impending defeat into a brilliant 59-move win over GM Kiril Georgiev to lift the Philippines to a stunning 2.5-1.5 win over 10th seed Bulgaria and grab a share of fourth in the Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey Monday night.

On the losing side after being forced to give up his queen for a pair of rooks in a cramped position in a slambang Soultabeieff Variation of the Slav game, the time-troubled Barbosa never gave up and surprised his veteran rival with sound counter-attacks anchored on his rooks and knights.

While Georgiev tried to finish off Barbosa with his hostile queen and white bishop, Barbosa wittingly pressed his counter on white’s exposed king, eventually coming up with a discovered check on the 59th with a clever Ng6+ move, forcing a stunned Georgiev to resign with an inevitable loss of his queen on e7.

That sealed the 35th ranked Filipinos’ shock win over the Bulgarians, whose average rating of 2678 is way higher than the former’s norm of 2546.

With 10 points, the Phl tied second seed Ukraine, fourth pick Hungary, No. 6 China and No. 18 Spain in fourth.

Top pick Russia, No. 3 Armenia and No. 7 Azerbaijan show the way with 11 points each.

GM Wesley So held GM Veselin Topalov to a 48-move draw in a rook-and-pawn ending of their Classical Variation of the Nimzo-Indian game while GM Eugene Torre drew his second straight match, this time against GM Ivan Cheparinov in after 47 moves of a Pillsbury defense.

Mark Paragua was the first to finish, escaping out of a slightly disadvantaged position to force a draw with GM Alexander Delchev in 32 moves of a Moscow Variation of the Sicilian.

They play the Hungarians next, a team composed GMs Peter Leko, Zoltan Almasi, Judit Polgar and Ferenc Berkes. The Hungarians overpowered the 16th ranked Polish squad, 3-1.

For a while, the Phl appeared headed for another setback after Barbosa, 25, went queen-less against a player of Georgiev’s caliber, a contemporary of Torre and a former top board player of Bulgaria before Topalov rose to the top.

But Barbosa had other things in mind.

Keeping his knight and two rooks active and in control of key squares, Barbosa launched a vicious counter-attack on white’s kingside, forcing Georgiev to commit weak moves and enabling the Filipino to steal a gem of a win.

With five points on four wins and two draws in six games, Barbosa has emerged the country’s top performer halfway through the 11-round tournament.

But while the men’s team continued to flourish in its drive to improve on its worst 50th place finish two years ago in Russia, the ladies squad faltered, absorbing a 1-3 defeat at the hands of the 14th seeded French.

Woman International Master Catherine Perena came through with a masterful 54-move victory over IM Almira Schripchenko, a former Moldovan beauty who migrated to France, in a Reti duel but Janelle Mae Frayna, Jedara Docena and Jan Jodilyn Fronda all lost their matches on the lower boards.

The defeat dropped the Phl ladies from top 10 to joint 18th with No. 5 USA with eight points. – Joey Villar