Big PH start in Chess Olympiad

TROMSO, Norway—Team Philippines warmed up for the second round of the 41st Chess Olympiad with expected lopsided victories over lightweight opponents Saturday night (Sunday in Manila) at Mackhallen Hall here.

The Filipinos, with Grandmaster Eugene Torre winning by default on board 3 and GMs Julio Catalino Sadorra and John Paul Gomez trouncing their board 1 and 2 counterparts, cruised to a 3.5-0.5 demolition of the Afghans in the Open division.

Only International Master Paulo Bersamina failed to notch the full point as he was held to a marathon 82-move draw in a Caro-Kann by untitled Zabiullah Ahmadi on board 4.

Next up for the Filipinos are the higher-ranked bets from Bosnia and Herzegovina, who routed the Nepalese, 4-0.

The lady chessers were even more imposing in a 4-0 dumping of the Palau women’s team.

Woman International Master Jan Jodilyn Fronda won by forfeiture over Glady’s Anee Paloma while WIM Jan Jodilyn Fronda flaunted her strength with a 13-move mate of Baby Edna Mission in a Pirc Defense.

United States-based Chardene Cheradee Camacho and fellow WIM Catherine Perena followed suit by overpowering Angelica Parrado and Destiny Sissior on boards 1 and 4, respectively.

Camacho, a graduating computer science student at University of Texas-Dallas, prevailed after 36 moves of a French Defense while Perena, seeing action in her fifth straight Olympiad, triumphed after 28 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Declined.

The shutout set up the nationals against a multinational selection from the International Chess Committee of the Deaf, a 3.5-0.5 winner over Ethiopia.

Sadorra, who is on his first Olympiad like the 16-year-old Bersamina, overwhelmed Fide Master Mahbuboollah Koshani in 32 moves of an English Opening (Botnivik variation).

Gomez, on the other hand, prevailed over FM Zaheerudden Asefi after 49 moves of a Benko Gambit.
Better chances
According to National Chess Federation of the Philippines executive director GM Jayson Gonzales, who was forced to take another role as a player aside from being the team captain of Team Philippines and coach of the women’s squad, Bersamina had better chances of winning with the black pieces had he pushed Qxb4 instead of Kxb4 on the 27th.

Gonzales, however, decided to give Bersamina, the country’s youngest ever national junior champion at 12, another chance to prove his worth against the 42nd seeded Bosnians of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Due to the transfer of Super GM Wesley So to the United States Chess Federation, where he has been designated as coach of the Open team, the Filipinos dropped to 52nd among 178 squads in the pretournament ranking.

The 20-year-old So, now the world’s No. 12 with an Elo rating of 2755, was at the venue, a former brewery, as he watched the Americans dump the Ugandans, 4-0, to match Russia, Ukraine and France’s conquest of Jordan, Tunisia and Zambia, respectively.