Torre rescues Filipinos

TROMSO, Norway—Grandmaster Eugene Torre flashed vintage form Thursday, snatching a win and preventing the Philippine men’s team from sliding further in the 41st Chess Olympiad here.

Showing why he’s the reigning national champion at 62, Torre beat International Master Leonid Gerzhov with the white pieces on board 3 as the Filipinos forged a 2-2 tie with the favored Canadians in the 11th and final round of the biennial competition.

United States-based GM Julio Catalino Sadorra split the point with GM Anton Kovalyov on board 1 and so did GM John Paul Gomez against GM Eric Hansen on board 2.

Seeing action for a record 22 times in the Olympiad, Torre fashioned out the win in 47 moves of a London System, cushioning the loss of GM Jayson Gonzales to GM Bator Sambuev on board 4.

The draw with Canada, seeded No. 37, was worth one match point, giving the Filipinos a total of 13 and putting them at 46th spot in the Open section ruled for the first time by Asian powerhouse China with 19 points.

While they fell short of matching their 14-point output in the 2012 Istanbul Olympiad, the Filipinos fared better than their projected 52nd-place finish, based on average Elo ratings.

Sans world No. 12 Super GM Wesley So and GM Oliver Barbosa, Sadorra carried the scoring load for the men’s team as he chalked up 6.5 points in 11 games.

Torre contributed 5.5 points in nine games, Gomez 5.5 in 11, IM Paulo Bersamina 5.0 in nine and Gonzales, the country’s skipper who was forced to play due to manpower woes, 2.5 in four.

Despite its reduced strength, the Philippines tallied wins over Afghanistan (3.5-0.5), Finland (2.5-1.5), Chile (2.5-1.5), Pakistan (3-1) and Bolivia (4-0). It also drew with Bosnia and Bangladesh and absorbed losses to Ukraine (1-3), Austria (1-3) and Belgium (1.5-2.5).

The Filipinos’ slumped to their worst finish (49th to 63rd places) in the 2010 Khanty-Mansiysk (Russia) Olympiad where they also notched 13 points. Their best windup was seventh in the 1988 Thessaloniki (Greece) Olympiad.

A promising showing by the Filipino women went begging in the end.

Nursing hopes of a strong finish against lower-ranked Belgium following a quick 22-move win by reserve player Christy Lamiel Bernales on board 4, the rest of the Filipinas faltered as they lost, 1-3, and stumbled to 64th spot.

WIM Jan Jodilyn Fronda, the country’s best scorer with 7.5 points, bowed to Wiebke Barbier, while WIMs Janelle Mae Frayna and Chardene Cheradee Camaco, hounded by inferior positions, fell to Woman Fide Masters Julia Morozova and Hanne Goosens, respectively.

Frayna chipped in 6.0 points, WIM Catherine Perena added 4.5, Camacho 3.5, and Bernales 2.0 for the women’s team which won over Palau (4-0), ICCD (3.5-0.5), United Arab Emirates (4-0), Egypt (3-1) and Costa Rica (3.5-0.5).
The Filipinas drew with the Poles but bowed to the Spaniards (0-4), the Bulgarians (3.5-0.5), the Mongolians (3-1) and the Latvians (3-1).

Mired at 11 points, the women, ranked No. 43 among 136 teams, falling short of their 43rd-place finish in Istanbul.

Punctuating its ride to the top with a 3-1 mastery of Poland, China towed 17-pointers Hungary, India—which vaulted to third after a 3.5-0.5 win over Uzbekistan—as well as Russia and Azerbaijan.

The Chinese, runners-up in the 2006 Turin (Italy) Olympiad, finally ended the stranglehold of European teams in the competition that lured a record field of 1520 players from 167 countries.

Team USA, with So as head coach, skidded to 14th place following a 1.5-2.5 defeat to Azerbaijan.

The Russians kept their supremacy in the women’s section with 20 points following a 2.5-1.5 triumph over the Bulgarians Thursday. China settled for runner-up honors with 18 points like Ukraine after they battled to a 2-2 tie.

Russia, China and Ukraine duplicated their 1-2-3 finish in 2012. Georgia, Armenia and Kazakhstan pooled 17 each.