Phl aims to revive Chess Olympiad bid

BUDAPEST, Hungary — The Philippines aims to reclaim its place back in the top 10 as it clashes with 27th seed Croatia in the men’s division and 26th pick Argentina in the women’s side in the seventh round of the 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad at the BOK Sports Hall here.

The Filipinos stumbled from a share of No. 7 down to a big group at No. 21 with eight points each after falling to Slovenia in the sixth round Monday and could be catapulted back to contention if they could hurdle the all-Grandmaster Croatians, a traditionally strong chess country that used to be part of the Soviet Union.

The Filipinas, who trounced the Bolivians, 3-1, in the sixth round, too will have a chance to snare a ticket back to the medal race if they could pull the rug from under the fancied Argentines.

GM Julio Catalino Sadorra should man the top board again and shoot for another victory after bringing down two super GMs in Vladimir Fedoseev in a 2.5-1.5 win over Slovenia and Haik Martirosyan in a 2.5-1.5 defeat to former champion Armenia.

The University of Texas in Dallas coach could face another super-GM in Ante Brkic and should have his hands full.

While Sadorra isn’t thinking of it yet, he has a chance at snatching an individual medal at board one as he is currently ranked fifth in that race having a tournament performance rating of 2879.

He trails Indian Dommaraju Gukesh (2998), American Fabiano Caruana (2987), Uzbek Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2948), and Vietnamese Le Quang Liem (2881).

Also seeing action for the country are Daniel Quizon, Paulo Bersamina and John Paul Gomez, whose trip is being bankrolled by the Philippine Sports Commission and National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP).

Shania Mae Mendoza, Janelle Mae Frayna, Jan Jodilyn Fronda and Ruelle Canino suit up for the women.

Meanwhile, the whole team including coaches GM Eugene Torre and Jayson Gonzales was treated to a city tour by delegation head Atty. Ruel Canobas.

“The team is recharged and ready to go again. We’re hoping for the best in the final five rounds,” said Gonzales, who is also the NCFP chief executive officer.