PH chess falters vs Belgium, Australia in Online Olympiad

Team Philippines dropped 2 of its 3 matches on Saturday, August 15, and virtually blew its chances of advancing to Division 1 in the FIDE Online Olympiad.

With only 6 points to show out of a perfect 12, the Filipinos need to sweep their last 3 matches on Sunday and hope the Australians and the Indonesians do poorly to entertain any hope of clinching 1 of 3 spots allotted to Pool A in Division 1.

The Philippines started with a 4.5-1.5 thrashing of Belarus in the fourth round, only to suffer an unexpected loss to Belgium, 2.5-3.5, in the fifth and a 2-4 defeat to Australia in the sixth.

Against the Belarusians, Grandmaster Mark Paragua stunned GM Vladislav Kovalev on board 1 while International Master Daniel Quizon and Woman IM Kylen Joy Mordido beat FM Denis Lazarik and WFM Aliaksandra Tarasenka on board 5 and 6, respectively.

GM Rogelio Antonio drew with GM Krill Stupak on board 2 and so did Woman GM Janelle Mae Frayna and WIM Bernadette Galas against IMs Olga Badelka and Nastassia Ziaiulkina, on boards 3 and 4.

Team Philippines floundered against Belgium, with GM Rogelio Barcenilla, who subbed for Paragua, bowing to GM Bart Michiels, Fronda yielding to untitled Annelies Cuvelier, and Michael Concio losing to Laurent Huynh.

Galas beat Diana Musabayeva and Jerlyn Mae San Diego bested Tyani De Rycke, but GM Darwin Laylo was held to a draw by FM Lennert Lenaerts.

The Filipinos tried to recover against the Aussies but got clobbered instead, with Paragua and Laylo bowing to GMs Anton Smirnov and Max Illingworth and Galas yielding to WGM Julia Ryjanova.

Only Kylen Joy Mordido struck back with a victory over WFM Cassandra Lim on board 6. Frayna settled for a draw against WGM Jilin Shang and so did Quizon against GM Temur Kuybokarov.

Next up for the Philippines are Bulgaria, Bangladesh, and Turkmenistan.

With 12 points each, Germany and Bulgaria are assured of the first two slots, with Australia (10 points) and Indonesia (8) on the horizon. – Rappler.com