Standings after three rounds:
6 points — Poland-1, Russia-1, Germany, Ukraine-1, Croatia, India-1.
5 — Israel, Philippines-1, Poland-2.
4 — Colombia-1, Russia-3, Kyrgyzstan, Cuba, Vietnam, Ecuador, Poland-3, Hungary, Ukraine-2, Romania-1, Colombia-2, Belarus, Turkey-1, Ukraine-3, Chile.
FIRST the Americans. Now, the Russians.
The Philippines trounced Russia-2, 3-1 in their third-round encounter to climb into the Top 10 in the first FIDE Online Chess Olympiad for People with Disabilities.
IPCA world champion FM Sander Severino crushed IM Yuri Meshkov, AGM Henry Lopez clobbered FM Ruslan Draganov and Darry Bernardo whipped IM Alexey Pakhomov as the Filipinos claimed another major triumph by beating the Russians.
Severino, who made history by winning the IPCA world championship last year, had a queen, bishop and two pawns against Meshkov’s queen and three pawns when the end came.
But the 35-year-old Filipino champion from Silay, Negros Occidental had an unstoppable queening pawn on the h-file when the Russian resigned after 63. h6.
Cheyzer Crystal Mendoza was the lone casualty when she lost to Polina Taranenko in the all-female encounter on board four.
The win was a fitting follow-up to the Filipinos’ 4-0 triumph over the United States in the second round late Sunday.
The Filipinos settled to a 2-2 draw with Canada in the first round last Saturday.
Overall, the James Infiesto-mentored Filipinos are tied for seventh to ninth places with Israel and Poland-2 with five points on two wins and one draw based on the scoring system that gives two points for a win and one point for a draw.
Top seed Poland-1, Russia-1, Germany, Ukraine-1, Croatia and India-1 have better scores with perfect six points going into the fourth round of the seven-round Swiss system tournament.
Team Philippines-2., bannered by Max Dave Tellor and coached by Roel Abelgas, agreed to a 2-2 draw with India-3.
Tellor provided the lone victory for the Filipinos when he defeated Udupa Krishna on board three.
Menandro Redor drew with Ashvin Makwana on board one and Felix Aguilera halved the point with Chakraborty Megha on board two.
Cheryl Angot, however, lost to Vivek Watpade in their board four encounter.
Philippines-2 is tied for 25th to 35th places with three points on one win, one draw and one loss.
The Filipinos’ campaign is supported by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP).
The unique online tournament is being organized by FIDE as part of the United Nations “International Day of Persons with Disabilities” celebrations on Dec. 3.
A total of 395 players, including two GMs, 12 IMs and 22 FMs, from 60 teams are seeing action in the online tournament.
The event will consist of two stages.
The first one is a seven-round Swiss System event on Nov. 21-28, from which the best four teams will qualify to play a double-round semifinal on Nov. 29-30.
The two best teams will then advance to the finals, while the two others will compete for third prize.
The moves
Round 3
S. Severino (PH) vs. Y. Meshkov (Russia)
1. d4Nf6 2. c4e63. g3d5 4. Nf3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Be7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. Qc2 b6 8. cxd5 exd5 9. O-O Bb7 10. Bf4 c6 11. Ne5 Nfd7 12. Nf3 Na6 13. Nc3 f5 14. Rac1 Rc8 15. a3 g5 16. Bd2 Nc7 17. Qb3 Kg7 18. Rfd1 Ne6 19. e3 Nf6 20. Ne5 Bd6 21. f4 gxf4 22. gxf4 Qe8 23. Be1 Kh8 24. Qc2 Bxe5 25. dxe5 Ng4 26. Qe2 d4 27. Rxd4 Nxd4 28. exd4 Rd8 29. Rd1 Qe7 30. h3 Nh6 31. Qh5 Ng8 32. Bh4 Qe8 33. Qe2 Rd7 34. Kh2 Rg7 35. Bf3 h6 36. b4 Qe6 37. b5 Qb3 38. bxc6 Bxc6 39. Bxc6 Qxc3 40. Bf3 Qxa3 41. d5 Qb4 42. Qd2 Qa4 43. Rc1 Qa3 44. Bg2 Ne7 45. Bf6 Ng6 46. Rc7 Rxf6 47. Rxg7 Kxg7 48. exf6+ Kxf6 49. d6 Nf8 50. Qd4+ Kg6 51. d7 Nxd7 52. Qxd7 Qa5 53. Qe6+ Kg7 54. h4 h5 55. Qe7+ Kg8 56. Qg5+ Kf8 57. Qxh5 Qc5 58. Qh8+ Ke7 59. Qg7+ Ke6 60. Qg6+ Ke7 61. h5 Qf2 62. Qg5+ Ke6 63. h6 1-0
R. Draganov (Russia) vs. H.Lopez (PH)
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. g3 e5 7. Nde2 b5 8. a3 Bb7 9. Bg2 Nbd7 10. O-O Be7 11. Bg5 O-O 12. Qd2 h6 13. Bxf6 Nxf6 14. Rad1 Rc8 15. Nd5 Nxd5 16. exd5 Qb6 17. Kh1 f5 18. c3 Rf6 19. Nc1 a5 20. Nd3 g5 21. Nc1 f4 22. Be4 f3 23. Qe3 Qxe3 24. fxe3 g4 25. Nd3 h5 26. Kg1 Bd8 27. Kf2 Rc4 28. b3 Rxe4 29. Ne1 Bb6 30. Nc2 a4 31. Rb1 axb3 32. Rxb3 Bxd5 33. Rxb5 Bc5 34. Rfb1 Bc6 35. Rb8+ Rf8 36. Rxf8+ Kxf8 37. Re1 Rc4 0-1
