Pinays chess co-leaders; men’s team forces draw

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine women’s team trounced International Chess Committee of the Deaf, 3.5-0.5, to share the lead with 31 others, including top seed China, even as the Phl men’s squad leaned on rookie Paulo Bersamina to salvage a 2-2 draw with Bosnia and Herzegovina in the second round of the 41st World Chess Olympiad in Tromso, Norway Sunday night.

Cheradine Camacho, Janelle Mae Frayna and Jan Jodilyn Fronda bested Tatiana Baklanova, Annegret Mucha and Natalya Myronenko, respectively, on the top three boards while Catherine Perena drew with WIM Olga Gerasimova.

Camacho, a student of former Olympiad veteran Rodolfo Tan Cardoso, turned a positional and material disadvantage into a rousing 54-move triumph in their French battle as she exploited Baklanova’s weak back rank and went on to snare a pawn and then a rook en route to victory.

The win kept the Filipinas in the lead with four points but face a tough rival in eighth seed Poland in the third round.

Meanwhile, Bersamina downed Fide Master Dejan Marjanovic as the Filipinos escaped with a draw after GMs Julio Sadorra and Eugene Torre settled for standoffs and GM John Paul Gomez bowed to GM Dalibor Stojanovic.