Philippines draws with Israel, tests top seed Poland in rd 5

Team Philippines 1 drew with Israel, 2-2, in round 4 on Tuesday, November 24, to keep its drive running in the 1st FIDE Olympiad for People with Disabilities.

Fide Master Sander Severino, the reigning world champion for the physically challenged, bested Grandmaster Yaacov Zilberman on board 1 while National Master Darry Bernardo subdued International Master Arkady Shebelev on board 3 to compensate for the losses of Arena Grandmaster Henry Lopez and Cheyzer Crystal Mendoza.

Lopez bowed to IM Andrei Gurbanov on board 2 while Mendoza yielded to Woman FM Aleksandra Aleksandrova on board 4.

The third-ranked Philippines 1 and fourth-seeded Israel remained tied with 6 points each in the company of Russia 3, Vietnam, Poland 3, Hungary, Ukraine 1, and Croatia.

Russia 1 and Germany shared top spot with a perfect 8 points each, followed by Poland 1, Poland 2, and India 1 with 7 points each heading to the last 3 rounds of the 7-round Swiss system eliminations of the online event which lured 61 teams from 45 nations.

Team Philippines 2 also drew with Brazil, 2-2, and shared 22nd to 36th spots.

Menandro Redor bowed to Candidate Master Adriano Albiani Barata on board 1 and so did Felix Aguilera to FM Jose Eduardo Maia on board 2, but Max Dave Tellor and Cheryl Angot countered with victories over Marcia Marias Das Lopez on board 3 and Tiago Das Polo on board 4.

Team Philippines 1 tackles top-seeded Poland 1 in the crucial round 5 on Wednesday. 

Non-playing team captain James Infiesto said he expects his wards to do well against the GM Marcin Tazbir-led Poles.

According to Infiesto, he’ll be fielding Bernardo on board 2, Jasper Rom on board 3 and Mendoza.

Bernardo has won his first 4 games, matching the feats of Poland’s FM Marcin Molend on board 2 and FM Lukasz Nowak on board 3.

Only the top 4 teams will advance to the two-round semifinals on November 29 and 30 with the winners disputing the title and the losers clashing for 3rd place. – Rappler.com