2012 World Chess Olympiad Round 10: Draw with Vietnam puts the Philippines on the verge of a top 10 finish

In the Round 10 match-up with neighboring Vietnam, all four boards ended up in a draw.  The draw kept the Philippines hopes of finishing within the top 10 alive. A win against 25th ranked Romania will definitely help the team of Eugene Torre, Wesley So, Oliver Barbosa, Mark Paragua, and Oliver Dimakiling attain the best ever finish for a Philippine Team in a chess olympiad.

China now leads the standings via tie-breaker over Armenia and Russia. China will face No.2 seeded Ukraine in the final round.

2012 World Chess Olympiad Round 8: Philippines stun 11th seed England behind Torre and Barbosa

Istanbul, Turkey – Another one bites the dust! The Philippines continued its surprising run in the 2012 World Chess Olympiad after beating a much higher ranked England chess team. GM Wesley So (2652) and GM Mark Paragua (2508) drew their matches against GM Michael Adams (2722) and GM Nicolas Pert (2555) respectively. It was in the middle boards that the Philippines gained advantage over England.  Asia’s first chess Grandmaster Eugene Torre won his second straight match as he surprised Nigel Short while playing black to give the Philippines a 2-1 lead. GM Oliver Barbosa redeemed himself after losing his match in the previous round by winning over 2012 British Champion Gawain Jones to complete the 3-1 romp.

The Philippines jumped to 6th in the overall rankings.  They will face China in the next round. England dropped to 17th and they will face another Southeast Asian chess power in Vietnam in Round 9.

Other Results:

Russia 2.5 -1.5 Ukraine

China 2.0-2.0 Azerbaijan

Armenia 3.0-1.0 Uzbekistan

USA 3.0-1.0 FYROM

Germany 2.5-1.5 Hungary

India 2.0-2.0 Serbia

Israel 3.5-0.5 Spain

Netherlands 3.0-1.0 Latvia

Argentina 3.0-1.0 Romania

NOTES: The win as the 6th for the Philippines in 8 rounds while the loss was the first for England in the 2012 Olympiad.  The Philippines upped their record to 6 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss while England fell to 4 wins, 3 draws, and 1 loss. It was also the first time in this year’s edition for Nigel Short to lose after winning 5 of his first 7 matches. He is England’s top scorer so far with 6 points and he was the pacesetter for the Gold medal in Board No. 3 after Round 7.  Eugene Torre (2469) had the lowest ELO rating among the 7 GMs that Short faced in the 2012 Chess Olympiad. So and Paragua have never lost after playing in all 8 rounds for the Philippines.

caloycomment: Still, only few Filipinos know that we have a very strong chess team … MORE

2012 World Chess Olympiad: Eugene Torre leads Philippines to 2-2 Draw against Hungary

GM Eugene Torre after his victory in Round 7

Istanbul. Turkey - Chess Grandmaster Eugene Torre steered the 35th seed Philippines to a 2-2 draw against 4th seed Hungary. Torre (ELO Rating: 2469), who is playing in his record 21st Olympiad showed his veteran savvy as he beat Hungarian Board 3 player GM Ferenc Berkes (2685).  The victory was Torre’s first in 3 games of this Olympiad while the loss was Berkes’ first in 6 matches.

It was a great performance for the surprising Philippine team.  GM Wesley So drew with Super GM Peter Leko at Board 1. GM Mark Paragua halved a point with GM Csaba Balogh.  Philippine Board 2 player GM Oliver Barbosa was the lone casualty as he fell to Super GM Zoltan Almasi.

With the draw, the Philippines retained a Top 10 ranking after 7 rounds with 11 points (5 wins- 1 draw – 1 loss). The team faces England in Round 8.

In Women’s Play, the 57th seed Philippine Women’s Team beat 52nd ranked Portugal, 3-1 to barge into the top 20. Victories by WFM Rulp Ylem Jose and Jedara Docena propelled the women’s team to its 5th victory.  The team will face the 5th-seeded USA in the next round.