GM Barbosa to man board 2 for Team PH

Grandmaster Oliver Barbosa will don the national colors again in the Tromso Chess Olympiad next month.

Barbosa, who sent his letter of participation to National Chess Federation of the Philippines president Prospero “Butch” Pichay Jr. yesterday, will man board 2 behind United States-based GM Julio Catalino Sadorra.

The 27-year-old Barbosa also occupied the same board in the Istanbul Chess Olympiad, where he wound up with an impressive 7.0 points in 10 games.

Sadorra, a 27-year-old business administration and entrepreneurship graduate of University of Texas at Dallas, will take over the slot left by Super GM Wesley So, who opted to coach the US team to the biennial Olympiad.

GM John Paul Gomez will play board 3 while 62-year-old GM Eugene Torre, who topped last month’s Battle of GMs, will occupy board 4 in a record 21 Olympiad appearances.

Rising star International Master Paulo Bersamina, winner of the Asean under-20 title at 16, complete the Open division team to be coached by GM Rogelio Barcenilla Jr.

“Of course, So’s shoes will be hard to fill,” Pichay told the Inquirer yesterday. “But this is still a solid team.”

The women’s team seems  stronger with the sudden rise in the level of play of WIM Janelle Mae Frayna of Far Eastern University and the return of  Chardene Cheradee Camacho.

Frayna, who has shown that she’s capable of beating male GMs, will occupy board 1 while Camacho, a computer science student also at UT Dallas, will play board 2.

Completing the women’s team to be mentored by NCFP executive director GM Jason Gonzales are WIM Catherine Perena on board 3, Jan Jodilyn Fronda of De La Salle on board 4 and Christy Bernales of University of the Philippines on board 5.