PH men’s team scrambles to defeat Albania in Batumi Chess Olympiad

MANILA, Philippines – The men’s squad squeezed out victory from a surprisingly tough Albanian squad in the 7th round of the 43rd Batumi Chess Olympiad on Monday, October 1, while the Philippine women’s team fell from their lofty perch in Georgia.

Host Georgia’s second team avenged the loss of their compatriots two years ago in Baku by whipping the Filipinas, 3-1, with woman grandmaster Janelle Mae Frayna and Marie Antoinette San Diego drawing their matches. 

The Filipinos battled their way to 66th place, still below their seeding of 54th as they have 8 match points from 4 wins and 3 draws. They play Uruguay in Tuesday night’s 8th round.

The Filipinas dropped from 18th place to 31st with 9 match points from 4 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses. They clash with Argentina tonight.

Julio Catalino Sadorra’s ability to turn losing positions into draws has placed him in a tie for 3rd place for best board 1 score according to tallied points.

He has 5.5 points out of 7 rounds for 78.6% as he tied Badem Al-Hajiri of Kuwait. They trail the pace-setting pair of Anish Giri of the Netherlands and Nils Grandelius of Sweden, who both have 6 points from 7 rounds.

Sadorra carried the team once more on his shoulders just like the team’s captain Eugene Torre done in his 46 playing years in the Olympiad. Inferior against Mehmeti Drita, Sadorra fished in muddy waters and reeled in the scrappy Albanian.

It seemed to create a ripple effect: Haridas Pascua  beating Seitaj Ilir in a quiet position and Jan Emmanuel Garcia holding a rook endgame against Franc Ashiku. The magic didn’t work on John Paul Gomez, whose piece sacrifice backfired, losing to Llambi Pasko.

For once social media was quiet. No comments, snide or otherwise floated as it seemed the Philippines would fall to the 91st seeded Albanians. One official of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines said: “I was so dejected. I did not watch anymore after midnight. I was surprised to see we won in the morning.”

The Filipinas had good positions in their games early on. But Bernadette Galas, one of the heroines in the Philippines’ stunning upset of Spain, got into trouble with a positional bind, against Miranda Mikadze. The other star in the conquest of Spain, Shania Mae Mendoza, lost hold of good position against Inga Charkhalashvili and lost despite tough defense.

San Diego was piece ahead against Sofio Gvetadze but time pressure prevented her from consolidating and Gvetadze forced a draw by perpetual check. Frayna hung on against Salome Melia, one of the members of the Georgian team that lost to the Philippines two years ago. – Rappler.com