PH team earns raves after loss to Armenia

MANILA—Grandmaster Wesley So (2652) halved the point with World No.2 GM Levon Aronian (2816) after 51 moves of a Ruy Lopez Opening using the white pieces in their top board encounter. But that wasn’t good enough as the gritty Filipinos got their first team loss against heavyweight Armenians, 2.5-1.5, in the fourth round of the 40th Fide World Chess Olympiad early Saturday (Manila time) in Turkey.

GM Oliver Barbosa (2554) split the point with GM Sergie Movsesian (2698) after 37 moves of English Opening in Board 2, while GM Mark Paragua (2508) also settled for a truce with GM Vladimir Akopian (2687) after 45 moves of Slav defense in Board 3.

IM (IM) Oliver Dimakiling (2428), who is chasing a GM norm, was the lone casualty, losing to GM Gabriel Sargissian (2693) after 25 moves of Irregular Opening in Board 4.

National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) Chairman/President Prospero “Butch” Pichay Jr. lauded the impressive showing of the Filipinos who give Armenians a good fight.

“We lost against Armenia, a power house in the chess world but today we have shown to the whole world that the Philippines is a future world power. No less than world no.2 Levon Aronian (2816) sang praises on Wesley So in an interview in Istanbul, because he salvaged a draw against the better position of Wesley So. I thought mukhang mananalo pa sana si Wesley.” said Pichay, who watched the almost seven-hour match over the Internet.

“Oliver Barbosa and Mark Paragua are both playing at their best, in fact I think they are playing like grandmasters with an Elo rating of 2700 that’s why Armenia just eked out a hardearned victory against the Philippines in that crucial game,” said Pichay.

Meanwhile, Aronian praised So in an interview with Chessdom.com editor-in-chief Goran Urosevic.

He (Wesley So) is a talented player from a country with great chess culture.”

For the 34th time So, had preserved his no-Loss record against GMs with 2700+ rating, this time against a player rated above 2800.

This was the second time that So had played a 2800+ rated player, the first was against Bulgaria’s GM Veselin Topalov, who was rated 2803 then in the 2010 Chess Olympiad in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia.

The 35th-seeded Filipinos, who beat Libya, 4-0, Moldova, 2.5-1.5, and Kazakhstan, 4-0, before losing to the Armenians dropped from a tie for first place to a tie for 16th to 36th placers along with their fifth round opponent Iceland, which beat No.72 Turkey, 2.5-1.5.

Asia’s first GM Eugene Torre, who is making a record 21st appearance in the Olympiad, will be playing according to Pichay and will be replacing Dimakiling.

The Olympiad is using a new scoring system that gives two points to a match win, a point to a draw and none to a loss and did away with the old practice of accumulating all the “won and drawn games” from all four boards.

Armenia, Russia, Ukraine and Hungrary remained on top with eight points.

The Phl’s women’s team, on the other hand, toppled Mexicans, 3-1, to jump to a share of 13th to 31st placers with 18 others at six points.

WIM Catherine Perena, WNM Janelle Mae Frayna and WNM Jan Jodilyn Fronda won their respective matches to negate WFM Rulp Ylem Jose’s loss in Board 2. (PR)