Gomez, Bitoon nail wins as Filipinos vault to 16th
KHANTY-MANSIYSK, Russia—International Master Richard Bitoon sustained his fiery form while Grandmaster John Paul Gomez regained his bearing to power the Philippines to a 3-1 win over Uruguay in the fifth round Saturday of the 39th Chess Olympiad at the Khanty-Mansiysk Sports Development Center.
Bitoon trounced Alvaro Guerrero in 43 moves of the Caro-Kann to complement Gomez’s 33-move triumph in a Neo Gruenfeld over Fide Master Manuel Larrea and boost the Filipinos’ campaign in the 11-round biennial tournament with seven points out of a possible 10.
Manning the top board for the fifth straight time, GM Wesley So drew with GM Andres Villa Rodriguez in 52 moves of the Trompovsky while GM Eugene Torre split the point with IM Bernardo Roselli in 26 of the Nimzo-Indian to complete the victory that pushed the Filipinos to a share of 16th to 38th places on three wins, one draw and one loss in the match point-style scoring system.
The 37th-seeded Filipinos are three points behind defending champion Armenia, Hungary and Georgia, which stretched their win streaks to five.
Armenia thwarted Russia-2, 2.5-1.5, Hungary stunned top seed Russia-1, 2.5-1.5, and Georgia stopped Vietnam, 3.5-0.5, in pivotal fifth round matches.
Gomez, who earned his GM title during the 2008 Dresden Olympiad, nursed a slight middle-game edge before pouncing on Larrea’s blunder which led to a queen capture in the 32nd move.
Bitoon, the only winner in the Filipinos’ 2.5-1.5 conquest of Paraguay on Friday, sacrificed a rook for a knight in the 24th move to launch an attack and then pounced on a weak queen push by Guerrero four moves later to seize control in a rook-versus-bishop endgame.
Guerrero resigned with Bitoon threatening to take black’s remaining bishop.
Bitoon is the Filipinos’ leading scorer thus far with four points on three wins and two draws.
So settled for his fourth straight draw after an opening-round victory via perpetual check with Rodriguez, who had a rook and two pawns against So’s rook and knight.
The Filipinos will tangle with 35th seed Belarus, one of several former Russian republics in the 149-team field, in the sixth round on Monday.
Led by GMs Sergey and Andrey Zhilgalko, Belarus edged Peru, 2.5-1.5, in the fifth round.
The Philippines also continued its creditable showing in the women’s division by drawing with 28th seed Argentina, 2-2, and raising its score to six points on two wins, two draws and one loss.
WFM Cheradee Chardine Camacho whipped IM Carolina Lujan, WFM Shercila Cua salvaged a draw against WGM Claudia Amura and Rulp Ylem Jose missed a winning line and split the point with WIM Marisa Zuniel.
Jedara Docena, who was responsible for the Filipinos’ 2-2 draw with Israel in the fourth round, yielded to Maria Florencia Fernandez this time.
The Nationals are tied for 25th to 49th places and will next face Mexico, which socked Ecuador, 3.5-0.5.
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