PHL chessers stay afloat sans So, Barbosa

MANILA, Philippines – Without its top two players in Grandmasters Wesley So and Oliver Barbosa, the crack Philippine men's team wasn't given a chance to do well in the 41st Chess Olympiad in Tromso, Norway.

Halfway through the 11-round, 14-day biennial event, the Filipinos are proving their doubters wrong.

After five rounds, the rag-tag Phl squad has seven of the possible 10 match points following victories over Afghanistan, Finland and Chile and a draw with Bosnia Herzegovina against a defeat at the hands of second seed Ukraine.

The Phl was playing Austria next, which was being played at press time.

Ageless Eugene Torre is spearhead the campaign as he remained undefeated with 3.5 points on a pair of wins and three draws, while Olympiad rookies GM Julio Catalino Sadorra and rising International Master Paulo Bersamina are holding their fort with three points apiece.

GM John Paul Gomez has two points on Board Two while National Chess Federation of the Phl and playing captain Jayson Gonzales, a last-minute replacement to take the alternate spot after GM Banjo Barcenilla begged off, has yet to play one game.

And this the Filipinos are doing without So, the country's highest rated player who is changing allegiance and coaching the American men's team, and Barbosa, who played second board in the last Olympiad in Turkey but wasn't able to make the trip due to visa delays.

In the absence of So and Barbosa, Sadorra, a standout at University of Texas in Dallas, had to man the top board right on his first ever Olympiad while Bersamina, 16, taking over the fourth board.

Meanwhile, Filipino GMs Oliver Barbosa and Mark Paragua finished in a three-way tie for first with Georgian GM Mikheil Kekelidze with four points out of five rounds in the Potomac Open in Maryland, USA recently.