RP women spank Estonia

The Philippines’ women’s squad pulled off a stirring 2.5-0.5 victory over 34th-ranked Estonia to gain a share of 14th place even as the RP men’s team got stalled by a draw by Switzerland and remained in joint 33rd in the penultimate round of the World Chess Olympiad in Turin, Italy Saturday.

Catherine Pereña and Beverly Mendoza beat Monika Tsiganova and Valeria Gansvind, respectively, while Sherily Cua halved the point with Victoria Bashkite to complete the surprising victory for the 60th-ranked Filipina chessers.

The win gained the gritty RP ladies a share of 14th place with 21.5 points heading into the final round of the 13-round tournament where they are pitted against another top-notch rival Slovenia.

Others in the group are Vietnam, Cuba, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic.

The RP women’s squad finished joint 48th in the last Olympiad in Mallorca, Spain with a final round victory or even a draw with the 17th seed Slovenia ensuring the team’s best-ever performance in the biennial meet.

The RP ladies’ top 20 finish in the 1998 Olympiad in Greece stood as the country’s best thus far.

The team will pin its hopes again on Pereña, who will take on Anna Muzychuk, while Cua and Mendoza clash with Ana Srebrnic and Jana Krivec, respectively.

Slovenia is also coming off a 2-1 victory over 16th-seeded Slovakia.

In the men’s side, rookie Oliver Dimakiling shocked IM Richard Forster on board 4 to force a 2-2 draw with Switzerland as GM Mark Paragua squirmed in time trouble and lost to veteran campaigner GM Viktor Korchnoi on the top board.

GMs Eugene Torre and Joey Antonio split the point with GMs Yannick Pelletier and Florian Jenni, respectively, as RP barely moved up to joint 33rd with 27 points in a tie with Switzerland, India, Belarus, Iran, Slovakia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Italy-B,and 26th-seeded Brazil.

The Brazilians will be the Filipinos’ final round opponent with the latter hoping to eke out a win to salvage a place in the top 20 and at least match the team’s 19th place finish in Spain.

Team skipper Samuel Estimo will stick it out with Paragua, Torre, Antonio and Dimakiling against GMs Giovanni Vescovi, Gilberto Milos and Jaime Sunye and IM Alexander Fier, respectively.

Third seed Armenia held France to a 2-2 standoff to remain on top with 34 points, 2.5 points ahead of China, which pooled 31.5 points after beating the Czech Republic, 3-1. Russia squad also scored a 3-1 victory over Cuba for third with 31 points.

In women’s play, Ukraine crushed India, 2.5-0.5, to stay at the helm with 28 points. Top seed Russia has 26 after a 1.5-1.5 draw with France.