Philippines maintains second spot in FIDE Online Olympiad

MANILA, Philippines — Grandmaster Darwin Laylo outlasted FIDE Master Killian Delaney in 48 moves of an English Opening to power the Philippines to a 5-1 win over Ireland Friday and stay at second after six rounds in Pool A action in Division 2 of the 2021 FIDE Online Olympiad.

International Master Jan Emmanuel Garcia, Woman GM Janelle Mae Frayna, FM Alekhine Nouri and Jersey Marticio also provided the wins to help the Filipinos at No. 2 with 10 match points, or just a point off the pace-setting Indonesians, who trounced the Aussies, 5-1.

WIM Jan Jodilyn Fronda fell to WIM Trisha Kanyamarala for the Philippines’ lone defeat.

The Filipinos zoomed to the top following a fourth-round 4-2 win over the Singaporeans while the Indonesians were held to a 3-3 standoff by the Bangladeshi.

But the Philippines was dislodged from the top spot shortly after a 1.5-4.5 setback to Indonesia in the next round.

The team, which has GM Eugene Torre as coach and GM Jayson Gonzales as delegation head, hopes to keep its place in the top three as it squares off Kyrgyzstan, Shenzen-China and Bangladesh in the final three rounds.

The top three finishers will then advance to the four-pool Top Division where the top two move on to the two-set quarterfinals.