RP routs foes in Olympiad opener

The Philippines started strong  in the 39th Chess Olympiad,  pulling off 4-0 victories over South Korea in the men’s division and Netherlands Antilles in the women’s category Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.      
Grandmasters Wesley So, John Paul Gomez and Darwin Laylo and International Master Richard Bitoon swept their Korean rivals in one of  44 shutout wins on opening day that put the 37th-seeded Filipinos among the early leaders in the two-week biennial event.
           The 16-year-old  So dumped Sanghoon Lee on board one to usher in the Filipinos’ rampage.
             Gomez, who got his GM title during the 2008 Dresden Olympiad, trounced Kyul Lee (Elo 1971) on board two.
             Laylo  whipped Munkhbat Chogdov (Elo  2236) on board three, while Bitoon crushed  Hoon Young-jun on board four.
            Not to be outdone,  Cheradee Chardine Camacho,  Catherine Perena, Shercila Cua and  Rulp Ylem Jose hurdled their matches against Netherlands Antilles in the women’s division.
             Camacho, the 16-year-old pride of La Union,  trounced Maria Elisabeth Delemarre; Perena tamed  Nadiniela Coffie, Cua bested Azry Salim Moussa and Jose dumped  Benigna Coffie.
                    The twin wins  put the Filipinos in an early collision against highly rated countries in the second round Wednesday.
          So will handle black against super GM Alexei Shirov  (Elo 2749) as the Philippines battles  No. 16 seed Spain,  3.5-.5 winner over No. 90 seed Algeria. So held  Shirov to a draw in Dresden, although the Filipinos dropped a 1-3 decision.
             Gomez meets GM Ivan Salgado (Elo 2595), Laylo faces GM Jordi Magem Badals (Elo 2589) and Bitoon tackles GM Daniel Alsina (Elo 2523) in other games.
           The 52nd-seeded RP women’s team takes on  No. 14 Romania which also clobbered Egypt, 4-0. 
                     Top seed Russia-1 settled for a 3.5-.5 win over lowly Ireland with GM Alexander Grishuk (Elo 2760) forced to a draw by  IM Sam Collins.
              Second seed Ukraine, led by GMs Vassily Ivanchuk (Elo  2754) and  Pavel Eljanov (Elo 2761), whipped  Iraq , 4-0;  while third seed China, starring GM Wang Yue  (Elo  2732) beat Kyrgyzstan, 3.5-.5.   Two-time titlist Armenia routed Costa Rica, 3-1. Other matches saw  fourth seed Russia-2 rout IBCA, 4-0;  fifth seed Hungary clobber  Jordan, 3.5-.5; and Azerbaijan crush  South Africa, 3.5-.5.