Men’s team thumps Uruguay; ladies lose

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine men’s team rode on victories by Grandmaster Julio Catalino Sadorra and International Master Haridas Pascua as it dumped Uruguay, 3-1, to continue its resurgence after eight rounds of the 43rd World Chess Olympiad in Batumi, Georgia Tuesday night.

Sadorra outplayed GM Andres Rodriguez Vila in their Bishop’s Opening duel in 42 moves on top board while Pascua pounced on an early blunder by FIDE Master Rafael Muniz and hacked out a 29-move win of an English encounter on fourth board to send the Filipinos to a 22-country logjam at 33rd place with 10 match points.

GM John Paul Gomez and IM Jan Emmanuel Garcia completed the win by splitting the point with FM Nicolas Lopez Azambuja and IM Luis Ernesto Rodi on boards two and three, respectively.

It was the 54th-seeded Phl’s third straight match win after languishing outside the top 100 following a disastrous 1.5-2.5 defeat to lower-ranked Lebanon in the fifth round.

Now the Phl has a chance to move further up the standings as it was playing 95th seed Zambia, which blanked Jamaica, 4-0, in the ninth round of this biennial, 11-round tournament.

After a strong start, the Phl women’s side suffered yet another heartbreaking defeat, this time to 30th seed Argentina, 1.5-2.5, as WGM Janelle Mae Frayna and WIM Catherine Secopito suffered stinging defeats at the hands of IM Carolina Lujan and WIM Maria Florencia Fernandez on the top two boards.

WIM Marie Antoinette San Diego delivered the Phl’s lone win at the expense of WIM Ayelen Martinez on third board while WIM Bernadette Galas couldn’t convert a winning endgame and settled for a draw.