Torre salvages huge draw

Round 7 Leaders

Open Division

13 points—Russia; 12—China, Ukraine; 11—Armenia, United States, Hungary, Azerbaijan, Germany, Uzbekistan, Philippines, England, FYROM; 10—Cuba, India, Spain, Latvia, France, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Poland, Argentina, Netherlands, Israel Slovenia

Women Division

12—China, Russia, Poland: 11—Ukraine, France, Hungary, Vietnam, India, Spain, Uzbekistan; 10—Georgia, United States, Serbia, Romania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Iran, Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Philippines, Switzerland, Lithuania

ISTANBUL, Turkey—The legendary brilliance of Eugene Torre came to fore again Tuesday as he outwitted fellow Grandmaster Ferenc Berkes and lifted the Philippines to a 2-2 tie with mighty Hungary in the 40th Chess Olympiad here.

Hard-pressed to deliver after compatriot GM Oliver Barbosa fell to Super GM Zoltan Almazi on board 2, Torre persevered with white to notch the full point on board 3 and put the Philippines on track for a lofty finish in the Open division of the biennial meet.

Flashing vintage form that merited him a record 21 Olympic stints, Torre forced Berkes, who totes an Elo rating of 2685 as against the Filipino’s 2469, to resign after 81 moves of a Queen’s Pawn Opening-London System and deny the five-time Olympic champion Hungarians the satisfaction of avenging their shocking 1.5-2.5 loss to the Filipinos in the 2004 Calvia, Spain, edition.

When the end came, the 60-year-old Torre, who surpassed Yugoslavian GM Svetozar Gligoric as the third highest Olympiad scorer of all time with a total of 143.5 points on 87 wins, 111 draws and 39 losses, had four pawns and a bishop against Berkes’ rook and a pawn.

GMs Wesley So (2652) and Mark Paragua (2508) split the point with Super GM Peter Leko (Elo 2737) and GM Csaba Balogh (2668), on boards one and four, respectively.

The 18-year-old So, who forged the draw after 34 moves of a wild line of a Marshall Attack, thus stretched his unbeaten run versus 2700+ rivals to 36.

The Philippines raised its match points total to 11, good for a share of fourth to 12th places among 157 teams.

Russia continues to live up to its top billing in the Open division, where some elite women players like Hungarian GM Judith Polgar play, with 13 points.

The Filipino women also rebounded with a 3-1 conquest of the Portuguese, pushing them to joint 18th to 38th with 10 match points in the distaff side also being dominated by the reigning champion Russians, the top-ranked Chinese and the resurgent Poles with 12 each.

Recharged by a three-day respite, Rulp Ylem Jose disposed of fellow Woman Fide Master Ana Baptista on board 2 in just 14 moves of a Pirc Defense, while Jedara Docena struck against Woman Candidate Master Sara Monteiro on board 4.

Unable to gain headway with white, WIM Catherine Perena and Janelle Mae Frayna sealed the triumph by drawing with WIM Catarina Leite and Maria Oliveira, respectively.