RP rips Puerto Rico, faces Bulgaria

KHANTY-MANSIYSK, Russia—After an easy victory over Puerto Rico, the Philippines braces for a rough sailing against highly rated Bulgaria in the eighth round of the 39th Chess Olympiad Wednesday in this city’s Sports Development Center. The Filipinos, finding no need for top gun Wesley So’s services,  trounced the Puerto Ricans, 3-1, in the seventh round Tuesday to raise their total to nine points and climb to a share of 19th to 44th places among 149 countries  in the open section.
GMs John Paul Gomez and Darwin Laylo notched pivotal victories in the first two boards for the 37th-seeded Filipinos, beating candidate Master Mark Machin and IM Alejandro Montalvo, respectively.
The 24-year-old Gomez subdued Machin in 68 moves of the Modern defense while Laylo downed Montalvo by time forfeit in 29 moves of the Scandinavian defense.
        Asia’s first GM Eugene Torre halved the point with Raul Vasquez, while IM Richard Bitoon split the point with Ramon Ovalle to complete the Filipinos’ fourth win against one draw and two losses.
           Next up for the Filipinos are the eighth-ranked Bulgarians, led by former world champion Topalov (Elo 2803).        
So, toting an Elo of 2668, will play top board anew against Topalov. Other matches pit GM Ivan Cheparinov (Elo 2661) against Gomez,  GM   Aleksander Delchev (Elo 2623) against Laylo and IM Kiprian Berbatov  against Torre. 
Ukraine paced the field with 13 points, followed by Russia-1, Hungary and Azarbaijan with 12 points. 
            In the women’s division,  top board player Chardine Cheradee Camacho suffered her first loss as the Philippines yielded to Peru, 1.5-2.5.
Rulp Ylem Jose provided the lone victory for the Filipinos when she bested  Lucia Orbezo on board four.
Camacho bowed to WGM Deysi Cori and so did Shercila Cua against WFM Ingrid Aliaga on board 3.  
Catherine Perena drew with WIM Ann Chumpitaz on board two for the Nationals, who fell to a share of 32nd to 50th places with eight points on 3 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses.
Russia-1 heads the 115-nation field with a perfect 14 points, followed by Georgia and India with 12 each.
The women’s team will take on  Vietnam, which stunned Netherlands, 3-1, in the eighth round.
It will be Camacho against WGM Hoang Thi Bao Tram, Perena against  WIM Pham Le Thao Nguyen, Jose against Nguyen Thi Mai Hung and Jedara Docena against WGM Nguyen Thi  Thanh An.