Dimakiling boosts Phl to joint lead

MANILA, Philippines - Oliver Dimakiling stepped up on board four to deliver the lone victory for Team Philippines, which stunned higher-ranked Moldova, 2.5-1.5, in the second round of the World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey Wednesday night.

Dimakiling outwitted fellow IM Iulian Baltag in a Queen’s Pawn Game, fashioning out a 39-move victory to key the victory for the 35th-ranked Filipinos against the 23rd-seed Moldovans.

Wesley So failed to translate a slight positional advantage into a victory and settled for a 74-move draw against fellow super GM Viktor Bologan in a slambang Sicilian encounter on the top board.

GM Oliver Barbosa also halved the point with GM Dmitry Svetushkin in 53 moves of a Caro-Kann while GM Mark Paragua gave up all his pawns for a knight to split the point with IM Sergei Vedmediuc in 73 moves of a Modern Defense.

The second straight win kept the Filipinos, who blanked the Libyans, 4-0, in the opening round, in the lead with 32 other teams, including powerhouse Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Hungary, China, Azerbaijan and Bulgaria with four wins each.

A win is equivalent to two match points, a draw one point and a loss zero.

The victory set the Phl against No. 40 Kazakhstan, which edged Denmark, 2.5-1.5, on victories by GMs Rinat Jumabayev and Anuar Ismagambetov over GMs Lars Schandorf and Jacoob Aagaard, respectively.

Meanwhile, GM Eugene Torre hopes to see action in the third round and formally set a record 21 Olympiad stint.

But while the men’s team sustained its hot start, the women’s side absorbed a 1.5-2.5 loss to No. 16 seed Slovenia.