Tough draw for RP vs England

BLED, Slovenia — After salvaging three draws against the United States Sunday, the Philippines braces for another deep impact collision with sixth-ranked England in the third round of the 35th World Chess Olympiad here Monday.

Grandmaster Bong Villamayor, the lone Filipino casualty in the second round, takes a breather, his place taken over by International Master Mark Paragua.

IM Petronio Roca, who has yet to see action, will play board four against a team bannered by super GMs Michael Adams and Nigel Short.

GMs Eugene Torre and Joey Antonio, still unbeaten, have been again tapped to play the top boards.

The RP women’s squad which lost, 0.5-2.5, to Armenia in the second round, hopes to bounce back against Iceland with rookie Kathrynn Cruz making her Olympic debut vice Sheerie Joy Lomibao.

Torre welcomed the tough draw, saying it’s better to face the tough teams in the early rounds than in the homestretch.

The 51-year-old veteran, playing white Sunday, conceded a draw with GM Gregory Kaidanov in 18 moves of a Trompovsky Opening. The Russian-born player, who has an ELO rating of 2646, offered the draw which the Filipino readily accepted.

The Filipinos played it tough against the Americans in the rest of the boards with Antonio holding the best chance against veteran GM Boris Gulko, another player originally from Russia.

Antonio, a 38-year-old warrior, engaged Gulko in a slambang Nimzo Indian encounter, but again wrestled with the time control to fall back more than one hour behind.

But the Filipino had a dangerous kingside attack to compensate for a pawn disadvantage. Earlier, he sued for time by offering a draw midway through the game, but was politely rebuffed.

With a rook on the seventh rank and a center passed pawn on the sixth rank, Gulko kept up the pressure, but Antonio unraveled a gutsy counterplay, beginning with a knight sacrifice.