Bersamina, Pinay chessers shine in 2nd round of Tromso Olympiad

MANILA, Philippines – Youthful Paulo Bersamina and the Filipina chessers were the bright spots for the Philippines in Day 2 of 41^st World Chess Olympiad at the Chess Grandmaster Arena on Sunday, August 3, in Tromso, Norway.

Deftly playing with black on Board 4, Bersamina, a Pasay City resident who recently gained his International Master title, outwitted FIDE Master Dejan Markovic in 50 moves of Queen’s Indian Defense for the country’s lone win in a 2-all stalemate with 42^nd-seeded Bosnia Herzegovina in the Open division.

The youngest player on the PH squad at 16, Bersamina’s triumph after Grandmasters Julio Catalino Sadorra and Eugene Torre drew their respective matches on Boards 1 and 3, respectively, while GM John Paul Gomez lost on Board 2 after 36 moves of a Sicilian Defense to GM Dalibor Stojanovic.

Sadorra couldn’t exploit playing with white and settled for a draw with GM Borki Predojevic in 51 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Declined while Torre, Asia’s first GM and the team’s oldest player at 62, halved his point with IM Denis Kadric after 45 moves of a Pirc Defense on Board 3.  

“Well-played endgame. Bersamina’s bishop move was lethal, forcing (Markovic) to give up,” noted Ignacio Dee, a veteran newsman and chess enthusiast, after Bersamina’s Bf6 move that left his rival’s two pawns and king, which in a corner, neutralized.

Following the tie with the Bosnian-Herzegovinians, the Filipinos were deadlocked at the 45^th and 46^th spots with Estoinia in the men’s competition were No. 3 seed France, No. 11 seed Netherlands and No. 12 seed Germany were 1-2-3 in the standings with eight points apiece.

Always overshadowed by the male counterparts, the Pinay chessers improved from their position in the previous round  and entered the top 20 in the overall standings with a 3.5-.5 win over the International Chess Committee of the Deaf.  

Woman International Master Chardine Cheradee Camacho provided the spark for the rest of her teammates with a scrambling triumph in 59 moves of French Defense over world deaf team champion Tatiana Baklanova of the Ukraine.

Also prevailing were WIM Janelle Mae Frayna over Mucha Annegret and Woman National Master Jan Jodilyn Fronda over Natalya Myorenko on Boards 2 and 3, respectively. WIM Catherine Perena defeated WIM Olga Gerasimova on Board 4.

Following their second straight victory, the Filipinas were now tied for 18^th and 19^th places with No. 12 seeded Slovakia, both with seven points apiece in the women’s competition.

Top seed China and second-seeded defending champion Russia were first and second, respectively, with eight points apiece.

“Grabe akala ko talo na talaga,” Dee quoted Camacho as a saying in a Facebook message she sent to teammate Cristy Bernales. 

“She (Camacho) exploited time trouble errors by her opponent who seemed to have a superior position,” noted Dee of the University of Dallas Texas scholar’s escape act.  

Both PH squads were scheduled to battle even tougher opponents in the third round on Monday, Aug. 4.

The men’s team was up against with No. 2 seed Ukraine, led by three super GMs, including Vassily Ivanchuk, who has an Elo rating of 2774 and currently ranked No. 17 in the latest FIDE ratings.

Aside from Ivanchuk, who plays on Board 1, they also have GM Ruslan Poromanov (2717) and GM Pavel Eljanov (2723) on Boards 2 and 3, respectively. Rounding the Ukraine cast on fourth board is GM Anton Korobov (2680).

The Filipinos were have their work cut out for them considering that the Ukrainians were surprisingly held by Norwegian 2 squad in the previous round and would want to get back into serious contention after dropping to a 37^th place in a deadlock with seven others with six points apiece.

The Filipinas tangle with No. 8 seed Polish, who are in solo 24^th spot after a 2.5-1.5 win over the Czech Republic in the second round.

 Regular GM Monica Socko, a six-time Polish women’s champion and who has an Elo rating of 2470, playing top board, was to play top board for the squad. – Rappler.com