Wesley So is last Pinoy standing in World Chess Olympiad
By Joey Villar (philstar.com) Updated September 07, 2012 06:44 PM
MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines’ fairy tale run came to a crashing halt as it ran into a well-prepared and higher-ranked China and got buried under the avalanche of a thorough .5-3.5 drubbing that sent it back from second to a share of eighth in ninth round of the World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey last night.
Grandmasters Oliver Barbosa, Eugene Torre and Mark Paragua fell like dominoes with super GM Wesley So averting a shutout by forcing a 64-move draw with GM Wang Hao, whose rating of 2726 was way better than the Filipino’s 2652, in the Fianchetto variation of the King’s Indian Defense on top board.
Barbosa, the highest scorer for the Phl with six points – including that win over GM Gawain Jones which resulted in a 3-1 shock win over 10th seed England going into the round – was first to fall on second board. He ending up in the losing end of a sacrificial kingside attack unleashed by GM Ding Liren (2695) for a quick, merciless 26-move miniature of the Soultanbieff Variation of the Slav Defense.
Paragua followed suit on the last board minutes later. He got lost in a series of exchanges in the middle game, which GM Li Chao (2665) capped by sacrificing a rook for a knight and an unstoppable passed pawn on the d-file for a 43-move win of the Exchange Variation of the Gruenfeld.
The 60-year-old Torre’s fortune wasn’t different as his scattered pawns on the f and h files fell one after the other to absorb a 50-move defeat at the hands of GM Bu Xiangzhi (2670) in their Queen’s Pawn Fianchetto game on third board.
So tried to salvage some measure of pride by going for a win on Board One against Wang, winning a pawn in queenside in the middle game but eventually forcing to give it up several moves later and even fell a pawn down.
Thankfully, So had all the answers to forge a standoff and remain the only Filipino chesser undefeated with 5.5 points on two wins and seven draws including six straight against the best the world can offer like Moldova, Armenia, Bulgaria, Hungary, England and now China.
The painful defeat sent the Phl from a piece of No. 2 to a share of eighth place with eight others, including fourth seed Hungary and seventh pick Azerbaijan with 13 points apiece.
A victory for the Filipinos would have sustained their amazing run and sent it straight to the top after the top-seeded Russians lost to the fifth-ranked Americans, 1.5-2.5, that created a four-way logjam on top with 15 points apiece.
Instead, it was China that surged to the top where it will join Russia, USA and No. 3 Armenia, which downed Germany, 2.5-1.5. No. 2 Ukraine, No. 9 Netherlands and Argentina were at fifth to seventh with 14 points each.
Next stop for the 35th ranked Filipinos are the Vietnamese, seeded 27th here who also stunned England in an equally impressive 3-1 win, in a virtual battle for Southeast Asian supremacy.
Vietnam is expected to field in GM Le Quang Liem (2693), GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Song (2639), International Master Nguyen Van Huy (2506) and either IM Nguyen Doc Hoa (2505) or GM Dao Thien Hai (2518).
The Phl, for its part, is expected to stick with So and perhaps rest one among Barbosa, Torre or Paragua in favor of a well-rested IM Oliver Dimakiling, who has won his first three matches here before dropping the fourth.
The Phl women’s team suffered its second straight loss, this time to 10th seed Romania, 1.5-2.5, and skidded to a share of 38th spot with 10 points and two rounds to go.
Source: http://www.philstar.com
Wesley rocks.