
Pinoy chessers complete twin kill in Batumi Olympiad opener
NO GM Wesley So, no GM Eugene Torre, no WIM Jan Jodilyn Fronda, no problem for the Philippines.
The Philippines pulled off similar 4-0 shutout victories over No. 144 seed San Marino and Mozambique in the first round of the 43rd World Chess Olympiad in Batumi, Georgia late Monday.
The Filipinos, who are playing minus Torre for only second time since 1970, swept San Marino, 4-0, to arrange a second-round showdown against No. 48 Slovakia in the men’s tournament.
GM Julio Catalino Sadorra, IM Jan Emmanuel Garcia, IM Haridas Pascua and FM Mari Joseph Turqueza hurdled their respective opponents to jumpstart the Filipinos' bid to improve their dismal 58th-place finish in Baku, Azerbaijan two years ago.
Sadorra, now the country's highest rated player following the transfer of GM Wesley So to the United States in 2014, outclassed Paul Rossini on board one.
Garcia demolished Giancarlo Berardi, Pascua dumped FM Ebrico Grassi and Turqueza overwhelmed CM Danilo Volpinari to complete the rout.
Torre, who holds the record for consecutive Olympiad appearance from 1970 to 2016, now serves as coach of the five-player men's team.
In the women's division, WGM Janelle Mae Frayna humbled WIM Vania Fausto Da Vilhete to lead the Filipinas' dominant showing against the lowly-ranked Mozanbique.
Also winning their matches were WIM Catherine Secopito, who trounced Katina Efentakis; WFM Shania Mae Mendoza, who routed Suzete Vicente Jefo; and WIM Marie Antoinette San Diego, who smothered Cheila Andre Sitoe.
Not with the team now s Fronda, who held fort for the Filipinas in Baku two years ago.
Up next for the GM Jayson Gonzales-coached Filipinas is No. 35 Slovenia.
Impressive as it was, the Filipinos’ twin triumph cannot be consider as a gauge yet since the Swiss system format calls for higher-placed teams to first play against their lower-placed counterparts.
So, who played for the Philippines in four straight Olympiads (2006 Turin, 2008 Dresden, 2010 Khanty-Mansiysk and 2012 Istanbul) before moving to the US, also had a rousing debut.
So, a member of the US team which captured the championship in the 2016 Olympiad in Baku, whipped Roberto Carlos Sanchez of Panama to lead the Americans' 4-0 win.
The Cavite-born So, who will turn 26 next month, played top board for the Americans in place of world cgampionship candidate GM Fabiano Caruana.
Also posting 4-0 victories were No.2 Russia,No. 7 France, No. 10 Israel, Poland, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Gernany, Croatia, Peru, Argentina, Romania, Turkey, Iran, Spain, Greece, Slovenia , Vietnam and Brazil.
No. 3 China, however, was held to 3-1 result by Morocco.
Candidate master Mohamed-Mehdi Aithmidou of Morocco provided the opening-day shocker when he toppled GM Li Chao of China.
IM Andrew Kayonde of Zambia and Shinya Kojiam of Japan also created a stir when they battled their highly-rated opponents to a draw.
Kayonde split the point with GM Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine and Kojima halved the point with GM Gabriel Sargissian of Armenia in a pair of remarkable opening-day performances.
The results left both No. 6 Ukraine and No. 8 Armenia with only 3.5/4.
In the women’s division, top seed Russia defeated No. 74 Costa Rica, 3.5-.5, despite the draw by GM Aleksandra Goryachkina against WIM Maria Rodriguez Arrieta.
In other results, Ukraine whipped Monaco. 4-0; China downe Tajikistan, 3.5-.5; and Georgia-1 humbled South Korea, 3-1.
The moves:
Round 1
M. Turqueza (Phi) vs. D. Volpinari (San Marino)
1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 c6 3. d4 e6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bb4 6. e3 b5 7. Bd2 a5 8. axb5 Bxc3 9. Bxc3 cxb5 10. b3 Bb7 11. bxc4 b4 12. Bb2 Nf6 13. Bd3 O-O 14. Qc2 Nbd7 15. h4 h5 16. Ng5 Qe7 17. Be2 g6 18. f4 Rfc8 19. e4 Nf8 20. O-O Ne8 21. Qd3 Nd6 22. c5 Ne8 23. Qg3 f6 24. Nf3 Bxe4 25. Nd2 Bf5 26. Bxh5 Qg7 27. Bd1 Qh6 28. Nc4 Rd8 29. Nxa5 Be4 30. Nc4 Rxa1 31. Bxa1 Qh7 32. Re1 Qb7 33. h5 Bf5 34. Ne3 Be4 35. hxg6 Qg7 36. f5 Bd5 37. Nxd5 Rxd5 38. Bb3 Rxf5 39. Rxe6
1-0