RP men’s, women’s chessers suffer seventh round losses

The Philippines suffered its third loss, a 1-3 defeat at the hands of No. 9 seed Poland, and dropped to a share of 32nd-39th places after Friday’s seventh round of the 36th World Chess Olympiad at the Gran Casino de Mallorca in Calvia, Majorca, Spain.

Due to time pressure, National Master Emmanuel Senador and National Open champion Darwin Laylo couldn’t convert the winning lines and lost to Polish Super GM Robert Kempinski and GM Bartosz Socko in the lower board encounter, respectively.

"Sayang, kala ko tayo na ang makakakuha ng 3-1 panalo sa Poland. Halos lahat ng boards natin ay winning ang position, kaso na-pressure sa oras sina Manny (Senador) at Darwin (Laylo) kaya natalo pa tayo," said team captain Sammy Estimo.

"Bagama’t lamang ng posisyon si Eugene (Torre) at Mark (Paragua) ay minabuti na lamang nilang i-draw ang kanilang laban," he added.

GM Eugenio Torre and GM-elect Mark Paragua fared well against their Super GM rivals, forcing draws with Bartlomiej Macieja and Michal Krasenkow in the top board matches.

Despite the loss, NCFP president Go Teng Kok remained optimistic that the Filipinos would be able to bounce back in the next round as they try to finish in the top 20 in this biennial meet participated in by 129 teams.

"I hope makabawi sila," said Go. The Filipinos tallied 16.0 points along with Romania, Scotland, Switzerland, Spain, Iceland, Brazil and No. 65 seed Indonesia which they meet in the eighth round.

The Indons will also come from a heartbreaking loss, 1.5-2.5, against No. 21 seed Czech Republic in the other featured matches in the seventh round.

GM Zbynek Hracek gave the Czech Republic lone win by demolishing IM Dede Liu in board 2 encounter while the rest of the boards ended in draws.

In the women’s section, the Philippine team, seeded No.65, was blanked by No. 11 seed Serbia Montenegro, 3-0.

With 9.5 points, the Filipinas dropped into a tie for 55th to 62nd places along with Luxembourg, Spain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kyrghystan, Wales, Brazil and No. 49 seed Mexico, their eighth round opponent, a 2-1 winner over No. 66 seed New Zealand.

The troika of IM Alisa Maric, WGM Svetlana Prudnikova and WIM Ana Benderac defeated Filipina WFM Sherie Joy Lomibao, WIM Beverly Mendoza and Loreshyl Cuizon (UNR), respectively.

Meanwhile, second seed Ukraine team, led by Super GM Vassily Ivanchuk, edged No. 5 seed India, which has former world champion Super GM Viswanathan Anand, 2.5-1.5. It remained on the top of the leadership board with 21.5 points.

The youngest grandmaster in the world — Sergey Karjakin— provided the full points for Ukraine by crushing Indian GM Abhijit Kunte in board four while the other three boards ended in draws.

On the other hand, defending Olympiad women’s champion and top seed China, bannered by ex-world champion GM Xie Jun, crushed No. 8 seed France, 2.5-0.5, for 18.5 points.

The Chinese remained on top, four points ahead of No. 7 seed Poland and No. 20 seed Lithuania which blasted No. 23 seed Cuba and No.16 seed Germany, both by the score of 3-0.