Chess Olympiad: RP bets sweep Turkmenistan, 4-0

KHANTY-MANSIYSK, RUSSIA – The Philippines fashioned out a vengeful 4-0 rout of former Russian republic Turkmenistan in the crucial ninth round of the 39th World Chess Olympiad with GM Wesley So again leading the way with a resounding victory with the black pieces. A day after holding former world champion GM Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria to a draw in the eighth round, So left nothing to chance to cut down GM Mesgen Amanov in 48 moves of the Gruenfeld and lead the 37th–seeded Filipinos to a morale-boosting triumph with only two rounds left in this prestigious tournament dubbed as the “Olympics’ of chess. GMs Darwin Laylo and Eugene Torre and IM Richard Bitoon also swept their respective matches against the lower-rated and less-experienced Turks to cap the Filipinos’ second shutout victory since a 4-0 win over Korea in the first round. Laylo, who took the place of GM John Paul Gomez on board two, trounced IM Meylis Annaberdiev (ELO 2465) in 52 moves of English opening to level his record to 3-1-3 win-draw-loss for 3.5 points. Torre whipped FM Kasat Atabayev (ELO 2318) in 58 moves of the Owen’s defense and raised his personal record to 89 wins, 14 draws and 39 losses in record 243 games in 20 Olympiad appearances spanning 40 years from 1970 to 2010. The 58-year-old Torre, who became Asia’s first GM in the 1974 Nice Olympiad, also broke a tie with GM Miguel Najdorf of Argentina for second most points in Olympiad history. The Filipino now has 146 points, one point ahead of Najdorf (145 points) for second all-time but way behind GM Lajos Portisch (176.5 points) of Hungary. Bitoon crushed FM Yusup Atabayev (ELO 2313) in 41 moves of the English to remain as the Filipinos’ leading scorer with 5.5 points on four wins, three draws and one loss in eight games Overall, the Filipinos are now tied for 27th to 47th places with 11 points on five wins, one draw and three losses in this tough, 11-round tournament being held in this oil-producing region in Ugra Valley in Western Siberia. - RCJ, GMANews.TV