RP bounces back, draws with England

BLED, Slovenia — The Philippines recovered from a sorry loss to the United States as it fashioned out a stunning draw with sixth-seeded England in Monday’s third round of the 35th Chess Olympiad.

Petronio Roca pulled off a stirring win over grandmaster John Emms in 43 moves of a Trompovsky and Mark Paragua preserved the 2-2 result with a great escape against Luke McShane in a 43-move Sicilian.

Paragua was headed to a certain defeat against England’s strongest young player, but McShane erred on his 40th move which allowed Paragua to force a draw.

Eugene Torre, defending the black side of the Ruy Lopez, lost to Michael Adams, but only because he did not undertake the right counter-measures.

Joey Antonio agreed to a short draw with Nigel Short in 12-move Scotch Game. Antonio said there was plenty of play left in the position, but a draw suited the team.

The Philippines meets Belgium this afternoon as it tries to hoist itself into the top 20. The Filipinos now have 7.5 points in a tie for 37th place.

Grandmaster candidate Arianne Caoili led the Philippine women’s team to a 2-1 victory over Iceland to jump to a share of 26th place with 13 others.

But the Filipinas will be stretched to the limit when they meet the Netherlands Tuesday afternoon. The Dutch women are led by former Chinese Peng Zhaoqin, one of the world’s strongest players.