After pulling off two victories, including one over Chinese GM Wu Wenjin in the eighth round, and five draws, Datu emerged as the only unbeaten player of a team trying to come up with a best-ever finish in this biennial event, but he just couldn’t hold off De Firmian relentless attack and eventually resigned on the 38th of their Ruy Lopez encounter.
Still, the one-point loss failed to dampen the Filipinos’ spirit although they dropped to 23rd from joint 12th with two rounds left in this Swiss system event.
GMs Rogelio Antonio, Jr. and Bong Villamayor and IM Barlo Nadera drew with Boris Gulko, Gregory Kaidanov, Alex Yermolinsky, respectively for the team’s 1.5 point output and an aggregate of 25.5 points.
The Filipinos take on the Georgians in the penultimate round.
The RP lady chessers, on the other hand, drew with Uzbekistan, 1.5-1.5, with Beverly Mendoza beating I. Khamrakulova and Leah Bernardo halving the point with E. Levushkina.
Top board player Arianne Caoili lost to veteran campaigner Angela Khegai.