The Philippines scored an emphatic, 4-0 rout of Turkey Girls-A, at Sunday?s start of the World Youth Under-16 Chess Olympiad, a victory it hopes to duplicate when it takes on Slovakia late Monday in the second round in Mersin, Turkey.

Grandmaster (GM) Wesley So (Elo 2577), National Master (NM) Haridas Pascua (Elo 2171), John Alcon Datu (Elo 2138) and Jan Emmanuel Garcia (Elo 2232) got the job done for the Philippines as they trampled a bunch of unranked rivals in Emel Kaya (Elo 1889), Seray Tulay (Elo 1788), Selen SOP (Elo 1870) and Cansu Soylemez (Elo 1849), to join the early surge of the big guns.

The 4th-ranked Filipinos, whose stint here is primarily backed up by NCFP president Prospero ?Butch? Pichay Jr., hope to sustain their momentum when they play Slovakia, listed as No. 8 in a field of 26 teams, in the second round.

The Slovaks also blanked No. 21 South Africa-B, 4-0.

The romp is expected to boost the confidence of the young members of the team, including the Bacoor, Cavite whiz kid So, who became the youngest Filipino ever to achieve a GM title at 14. He is also the current world youngest GM.

So prevailed over Emel after 50 moves of a Sicilian Defense; Pascua won against Seray after 35 moves of a Queens Gambit Declined; Datu defeated SOP after 60 moves of an English Opening while Garcia crushed Soylemez after 50 moves of another English Opening.

?Coach GM Bong (Villamayor) need to pep talk his players and corrected some of their mistakes. Judging from their games and the results of the other games, it will be a tough tournament for all,? said lawyer Florand Garcia, father of Jan Emmanuel, who watched the games live in the internet late Sunday together with Coach International Master (IM) Idel Datu.

South Africa-A pulled off a shock 2-2 draw over 11th seed Switzerland-B.
Other results saw top seed Russia beat Turkey-C, 3.5-0.5; second seed India thumped Turkey-B, 3-1; third seed Azerbaijan nipped Turkey-Mersin, 3-1; fifth seed Turkey-A blanked Bosnia Herzegovina, 4-0; sixth seed Georgia whipped Turkey Girls-B, 4-0; seventh seed Armenia crushed Isek Aquamatch, 4-0; ninth seed England trounced Albania, 4-0; 10th seed Switzerland-A dumped Kenya, 4-0; 12th seed Greece blasted Australia, 4-0; and 13th seed Sri Lanka defeated Syria, 3-1.

Other second round pairings pit Switzerland-A vs. Turkey-A, Georgia vs. England, Greece vs. Armenia, India vs. Russia, Sri Lanka vs. Azerbaijan, Turkey-Mersin vs. Switzerland-B, South Africa-A vs. Turkey-B, Syria vs. Turkey-C, South Africa-B vs. Turkey Girls-A, Bosnia Herzegovina vs. Kenya, Albania vs. Turkey Girls-B and Isek Aquamatch vs. Australia.