THE Philippines succumbed to 19th seed Spain, 1-3, in the women’s division and host Uzbekistan 2, 1.5-2.5, in the men’s side that denied its bid of barging into the Top 10 after five rounds of the 46th World Chess Olympiad at the Silk Road International Exhibition Centre in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on Sunday night.
Woman International Master (WIM) Jan Jodilyn Fronda was the lone shining light for the Filipinas as she stunned IM Ann Matnadze on board three that averted a shutout after Woman Grandmaster Janelle Mae Frayna, WIM Ruelle Canino and Woman FIDE Master Shania Mae Mendoza all suffered crushing defeats on boards one, two and four.
Ms. Fronda remained the highest scorer for the team with 4.5 points out of the possible five and, if she can sustain it, could land her a chance of contending for an individual medal at board four.
For the Filipinos, they had the chance to escape with a 2-2 draw after IM Paulo Bersamina, Grandmaster (GM) Daniel Quizon and IM Jem Garcia drew on boards two to four and IM Michael Concio, Jr. looked headed into a split versus GM Abdimalik Abdisalimov on top board.
But Mr. Concio blundered away his chances in a rook versus bishop-and-knight endgame and fell in 73 moves in their English encounter.
The stinging defeats sent the men’s squad into a 49-nation tie for 46th and the women’s squad into a logjam at 36th, both with six match points each.
They should look to spring back into contention as they were battling Yemen in the men’s section and Angola in the women’s side in the sixth round as of this writing. — Joey Villar