Men’s team surges to 13th in Olympiad

MANILA, Philippines — International Masters Jan Emmanuel Garcia and Haridas Pascua downed their respective foes to power the Philippines to a 3-1 win over Ecuador and into a share of 13th place after the 10th and penultimate round of the 43rd World Chess Olympiad in Batumi, Georgia Thursday night.

Both Olympiad first-timers, Garcia and Pascua were both up to the task with the former pouncing on a middlegame blunder by FIDE Master Kevin Naboa to turn an equal game into a 43-move win of a Scotch Game on board three and the latter punishing International Master Migue Muñoz Sanchez’s foolish knight sacrifice with a 33-move triumph of an English Opening on last board.

The pair of wins proved critical as both Grandmasters Julio Catalino Sadorra and John Paul Gomez drew with GM Carlos Matamoros Franco and IM Christian Barros.

It was the fifth straight win for the Filipinos as they zoomed to a seven-country logjam at No. 13 with 14 match points apiece.

Interestingly, the Phl once slipped to a tie at 101st place after absorbing an embarrassing defeat to lowly Lebanon in the fifth round.

Now, they’re back with a vengeance.

China, which pulled down erstwhile solo leader Poland, 3-1, and top seed and defending champion United States, which edged Armenia, 2.5-1.5, share the lead with 17 apiece.

The Filipinos were expected to go all out for nothing less than a victory as they were tackling the Vietnamese, who halved the point with the Germans, 2-2, at press time.

A win against Vietnam will give the Phl a chance to eclipse its best finish in the biennial event—a seventh-place performance in 1988 in Thessaloniki, Greece where non-playing coach GM Eugene Torre played top board.

“We’re crossing our fingers and hoping for a win,” Torre told The STAR.

The Phl women’s squad was not as fortunate as it fell to Moldova, 1.5-2.5, with WGM Janelle Mae Frayna missed her winning chances and lost to WIM Diana Baciu on top board that hastened its downfall.

WIM Bernadette Galas also fell to WFM Paula-Alexandra Gitu on fourth board.

WIM Catherine Secopito provided the lone win at second board against WFM Olga HIncu while WFM Shania Mae Mendoza drew with IM Svetlana Petrenko on third board.

The Pinay chessers thus slipped to a tie at No. 46 with 11 points.