Chessers take No. 2 quarters spot

The Nationals clash with Kazakhstan in a knockout format of two matches and an Armageddon blitz game in case of a tie

The Philippines swept its last three assignments to take the second seed in the knockout quarterfinals of the Asian Nations Online Chess Cup 2020 on Sunday.

The Filipinos toppled top seed India, second-ranked Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to finish the eliminations with 14 match points.

Against India, Rogelio Barcenilla delivered the decisive victory over fellow Grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguly in board one.

The matches pitting GM Mark Paragua against Sarin Nihal, Haridas Pascua against Krishnan Sasikiran, and Paolo Bersamina against S.P. Sethuraman ended in draws.

The Filipinos also edged Kazakhstan via the same score, 2.5-1.5.

Striking in the lower boards, Pascua humbled Denis Makhnyov while Bersamina took the measure of Murtas Kazhgalayev.

Kazakhstan picked up its lone win in board 2 through Rinat Jumabayev who trounced Paragua.

The other match between Barcenilla and Rustam Khusnutdinov ended in a draw.

The Nationals ripped Kyrgyzstan, 3-1, in the final round.

Barcenilla humbled Mikhail Markov, Bersamina dumped Asyl Abdyjapar and Pascua defeated Ruslan Sezdbekov.

Paragua was the lone casualty, losing to Semetey Tologontegin.

The Filipinos actually tied Mongolia for second spot, but won the tiebreak by virtue of their 2.5-1.5 win against the squad in the fifth round.

On Friday, the Nationals clash with Kazakhstan in a knockout format of two matches and an Armageddon blitz game in case of a tie.

In other quarterfinal matches, top seed Iran battles No. 8 Singapore, No. 3 Mongolia clashes with India and No. 4 Australia meets Indonesia.