From Hero to Goat

From Hero to Goat
by Ed Andaya
Monday, 04 October 2010 19:44

KHANTY-Mansiysk, Russia — The Philippines’ campaign in the 39th World Chess Olympiad ended not with a bang but a whimper, losing a heart-breaking 1.5-2.5 decision to lower-rated Estonia and falling all the way to 50th place in the final standings here late Sunday.

IM Richard Bitoon turned from hero to goat when he lost to IM Aleksandr Volodin in the board-four match that decided the fate of the two nations in this two-week long, 11-round competition dubbed as the ‘Olympics’ of chess.

The end for the white-playing Bitoon, who was inserted to the team following the suspension of GM Rogelio Antonio Jr., came in 53 moves of the Sicilian Taimanov variation with the younger and lower-rated Volodin (ELO 2433) threatening mate in one.

The 34-year-old pride of Medellin, Cebu, who is hoping to become the country’s newest GM, labored under severe time pressure and made a weak rook move on the 36th move that allowed the 20-year-old Volodin to launch a lethal queen-rook attack.

When he resigned, Bitoon’s king on e5 was under threat of mate in one by Volodin’s rook.

Before the final-round setback, Bitoon is the second-best Filipino performer with six points on four wins, four draws and one loss while playing on board five.

GM Wesley So settled for a draw with GM Kaido Kulaots in only 27 moves of the Gruenfeld Exchange variation.

So , who will turn 17 years old on Oct. 9, battled Kulaots to early exchange of the queens and reached an ending with little promise for counterplay.

GM John Paul Gomez also split the point with GM Meelis Kanep in 27 moves of the Sicilian while GM Darwin Laylo halved the point with IM Olav Sepp in the other two boards.

Overall, the Filipinos finished with 12 points on five wins, two draws and four losses based on the matchpoint-style scoring system that gives two points for a win, one point for a draw and zero for a loss.

The Filipinos finished in a tie for 49th to 63rd places in the 149-team competition and 50th place overall after the Sonneborn-Berger tiebreak.

That’s four places lower than their 46th–place finish during the 2008 Dresden Olympiad and six places lower than their 44 th-place finish in the 206 Turin Olympiad.

The Filipinos’ best finish ever in the Olympiad was eighth-place during the 1988 Olympiad in Thessaloniki, Greece.

“I think we did well enough. The team could have easily finished in the Top 20 with a win by Bitoon in the final round or Top 30 with a draw. But that’s chess,” said National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) president Prospero “Butch” Pichay, who was also named by FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov to the FIDE panel of advisers. (See related story)

So emerged as the Filipinos’ leading scorer with 6.5 points on three wins and seven draws, followed by Bitoon with six points on four wins, four draws and two losses.

Gomez, who achieved his GM title during the 2008 Dresden Olympiad, wound up with five points on three wins, four draws and two losses.

GM Eugene Torre, who made history with a record 20th Olympiad appearance in 40 years from 1970 to 2010, had 4.5 points on three wins , three draws and only one loss despite playing the last number of game among the Filipinos.

Laylo had 3-2-3 win-draw-loss record.

Here is the full article.