Sadorra claims scalp of another super GM at Chess Olympiad

Julio Catalino Sadorra. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

BUDAPEST—There’s very little to expect from the Philippine teams campaigning here in the 45th Fide (International Chess Federation) Chess Olympiad.

But Grandmaster (GM) Julio Catalino Sadorra hunting down super GMs is a joy to watch.

Sadorra snared a third one on Friday, using a rarely-used line against A.R. Saleh Salem’s pet King’s Indian Defense for a 35-move victory that highlighted the Philippines’ 4-0 rout of United Arab Emirates at BOK Sports Hall here.

READ: Sadorra pulls off chess stunner in Philippines’ upset of Slovenia

“I chose to play like Smyslov and used the Smyslov Variation against my opponent’s favorite King’s Indian,” said Sadorra, referring to former world champion Vassily Smyslov of the Soviet Union.

“When he went c5 and, later, b5 (both pawn advances), the [game] turned into a Benko structure, except that [Salem’s] was a poorer version,” he added after the match, where the Filipino sacrificed a bishop and a knight to expose his opponent’s kingside.

Daniel Quizon, Paulo Bersamina and Jan Emmanuel Garcia likewise hurdled their respective assignments—Omran Al Hosani, Sedrani Ammar and Fareed Ahmed—in the lower boards that helped the Filipinos ascend to a big group at No. 20 with 12 match points apiece.

READ: PH finds daily highlight in Chess Olympiad

With two rounds to go, the country also stayed in the hunt of replicating, if not eclipsing, its best finish in the biennial meet at seventh in the 1988 edition in Thessaloniki, Greece, where its current coach, GM Eugene Torre, was then its top board player.

The Filipinos, whose trip is being bankrolled by the Philippine Sports Commission, clash with the 32nd-seeded, all-GM Georgians in the penultimate round hoping to realize that dream.

Sadorra has been nothing short of spectacular here in the Hungarian capital, as he flaunts an unbeaten score of six points out of seven games that included an impressive score of 3.5 points against four super GMs.

Running third

Interestingly, one of the super GM victims of Sadorra, Russian émigré Vladimir Fedoseev of Slovenia, shocked former world champion and current No. 1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway that same round.

Sadorra, a coach at University of Texas in Dallas, is currently running third in the board one individual medal race with a performance rating of 2845, behind only Indian sensation Dommaraju Gukesh, who will challenge reigning world champion Ding Liren of China for the title late this year in Singapore, with a 3012 and Uzbek Nodirbek Abdusattorov with a 2949.

Also, the Filipinos are also in contention for a category prize medal, an award given to non-podium finishers per their rating group, as they lead Group B in a super tight race.

The Filipino women, meanwhile, bowed to Romania, 3-1.

Wonder girl Ruelle Canino clawed her way out of the grave by stunning Woman Grandmaster Carmen Voicu-Jagodzinsky at board that averted a sweep.

Janelle Frayna, Jan Jodilyn Fronda and Bernadette Galas all sputtered on boards one, two and four as the women’s team stumbled from a place in the top 30 to a spot in the top 50.