KHANTY-MANSIYSK, Russia—Grandmaster Wesley So held former world champion Veselin Topalov to a draw, but the Philippines yielded a 1.5-2.5 decision to highly rated Bulgaria in the eighth round of the 39th Chess Olympiad Wednesday.
Handling black with precision, the 16-year-old So forced Topalov, currently the world’s second-highest rated player with an Elo of 2803, to split the point after 52 moves of the Gruenfeld with both sides having a rook and three pawns.
The hard-earned draw by So (Elo 2668) and the victory by Asia’s first GM Eugene Torre over International Master Kiprian Berbatov on board four, however, went for naught following the losses absorbed by GMs John Paul Gomez and Darwin Laylo on boards 2 and 3.
Gomez bowed to GM Ivan Cheparinov (Elo 2661) in 29 moves of the English, while Laylo yielded to GM Aleksander Delchev (Elo 2623) as the Philippines plunged into a share of 42nd to 66th places in the open section with nine points on four wins, one draw and three losses.
Entering the last three rounds, the Philippines trails solo leader Ukraine by five points.
Ukraine forged a 2-2 draw with top seed Russia-1 to raise its total to 14 points on six wins and two draws.
In hot pursuit with 13 points are Russia-1, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Hungary, Armenia and France.
The Filipinos, seeded 37th among 149 competing teams, will try to bounce back against No. 69 Turkmenistan, which lost to India, 1-3, in the ninth round Thursday.
So, hobbled by six straight draws after winning his first assignment, plays black anew against GM Mesgen Amanor and so did Torre against Fide Master Maksat Atabayer.
Laylo replaces Gomez on board 2 against IM Meylis Annaberdier while IM Richard Bitoon returns to action on board 4 against FM Yusup Atabayev.
While the men’s team went down fighting, the women’s team suffered a 4-0 trashing from Southeast Asian Games rival Vietnam.
Dresden Olympiad top scorer Chardine Cheradee Camacho bowed to WGM Hoang Thi Bao Tram on the top board and so did Catherine Perena to WIM Pham Le Thao Nguyen, Rulp Ylen Jose to WIM Nguyen Thi Mai Hung and Jedara Docena to WGM Nguyen Thi Thanh An.
The 52nd-seeded women’s team got stuck at eight points and plummeted to a share of 49th to 69th places in the 115-team field.
Powerhouse Russia-1 routed India, 3.5-.5, to tally its eighth straight win and pulled away with a perfect score of 16 points. Serbia and Russia-2 are joint second with 13 points each.
Next up for the Philippines is No. 62 Bolivia, which drew with ICSC, 2-2.
Women’s team mentor National Master Cesar Caturla opted to rest Camacho and will be fielding Perena on the top board against Daniela Cordero.
Shercila Cua will play board 2 against Eugenia Ramirez; Jose will play board 3 against Raisa Luna and Deena will play board 4 against Gabriela Solis.
Topalov, world champion in 2005, seized the initiative after 22. Rc7 but allowed So to initiate massive exchanges that included the queens on the 33rd move and bring about an equal position.