PH chessers bow to Romania, settle, for 21st overall
GRANDMASTERS Eugene Torre and Mark Paragua lost their respective matches on Sunday as the 35th-seed Philippines suffered a heart-breaking, 1-3 loss to 25th-seed Romania in the 11th and final round to finish in 21st place in the 40th FIDE World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey.
The 60-year-old Torre (ELO 2469)is0911soi, in his record 21st Olympiad, bowed to GM Levente Vajda (2612) on board 3 after 36 moves of Scotch Potter Variation duel while Paragua (2508), the 1998 World Under-14 rapid champion yielded to GM Vladislav Nevednichy (2554) on board 4 after 40 moves of Pseudo-King’s Indian skirmish.
GM Wesley So (2652) remained undefeated in the tournament after drawing with GM Constantin Lupulescu (2614) on board 1 after 47 moves of Slav defense while GM Oliver Barbosa (2554) halved the point with GM Mircea-Emilian Parligras (2618) on board 2 after 39 moves of Queen’s Indian Defense.
The gritty Filipinos remained stuck at 14 points, good for a share of 19th to 33th place but earned some consolation after taking the bronze medal in Group B behind winner Sweden and runner-up Denmark.
Despite failing to surpass its best finish of seventh place in the 1988 edition of the biennial event in Thessaloniki, Greece, the country still improved on its worst finish of 50th two years ago in Khantiy Mansiysk, Russia.
“A tie for 19th place and overall 21st place is not bad at all. This was my prediction before the start of the Istanbul Chess Olympiad,” NCFP Chairman Prospero Pichay said. “We have a young team and we will be better in the next Olympiad.”
The Filipinos opened their campaign with wins over Libya (4-0), Moldova (2.5-1.5) and Kazakhstan ( 4-0). They lost to 2008 World Champion Armenia (1.5-2.5) in the fourth round then beat Iceland (3-1) in the fifth, Bulgaria (2.5-1.5) in the sixth before drawing Hungary (2-2 ) in the seventh. The Pinoys then upset England (3-1) in the eighth.
The Filipinos however, lost to China (0.5-3.5) in the ninth then settled for a 2-2 draw against Vietnam in the penultimate round before bowing to Romania.
ARMENIA BAGS GOLD
Meanwhile, Armenia and Russia were tied with 19 points but Armenia won gold on stronger tie-breaks. Ukraine (18 points) claimed the bronze medal.
Russia (19 points) took the women’s gold while China (19 pts) and Ukraine (18 pts) earned silver and bronze, respectively.
So tallied 6.5 points in 11 games on board 1 on 2 wins and 9 draws, a Performance Rating of 2710 good for 10.3 Elo points.
Barbosa emerged the Pinoys’ highest scorer with seven points on five wins and four draws against two losses in 11 games on board 2, a rating Performance of 2668 plus Elo rating of 20.4.
Torre has 3.5 points on two victories and three draws against two defeats on board 3, a rating Performance of 2611 plus Elo rating of 12.8 while Paragua has six points on three wins, six draws and two losses on board 4, a rating Performance of 2561 plus Elo rating of 7.9
International Master Oliver Dimakiling, the team’s alternate, played the first four games, winning the first three and dropping the fourth, and never get to play again. He gained an Elo rating of 10.5 with a rating Performance of 2631.
