Philippines, 19 Feb 2026
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ISTANBUL CHESS OLYMPIAD: PHILIPPINES TO PLAY AGAINST ROMANIA; PHL LADY CHESSERS GOES UP AGAINST BOZNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

PhilBoxing.com


Manila---Resurgent Philippines resumes its campaign in the 40th FIDE World Chess Olympiad when they battle dangerous Romania in the 11th and final round Sunday at the WOW Convention Center in Istanbul, Turkey.

The Filipinos drew their last matches against Southeast Asian rival Vietnam, 2-2, to vault into a share of 9th to 15th places in the open section before the tournament took a break Saturday.

Grandmaster Wesley So, the highest-rated Filipino with an Elo of 2652, and remains the only undefeated in the team after ten rounds and may still improve the individual performance if he?s going to win against GM Constantin Lupulesco (2614) using the disadvantageous black pieces on board 1.

GM Oliver Barbosa (2554) will meet GM Mircea-Emilian Parligras (2618) using the white pieces on board 2 while GM Eugene Torre (2649) will take GM Levente Vajda (2612) using the black pieces on board 3 and finally GM Mark Paragua (2508) will battle GM Vladislav Nevednichy (2554) using the white pieces on board 4.

Philippines has a good chance to stop Romania to increase its standing from its worst finish, 50th place in Khanty Mansiyk, Russia, 2010 Chess Olympiad, and a chance to break its 7th place record in 1988 Thessanloniki Greece Olympiad.

The 35th-seeded Filipinos have 14 points based on the scoring system that gives two points for a win, one point for a draw and zero for a loss.

"It's a make-or-break situation," said National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) executive director and head coach GM Jayson Gonzales.

The Filipinos open their campaign with a big bang blasting Libya (4-0), Moldova (2.5-1.5) and Kazakhstan ( 4-0) in the first three rounds. However lost to 2008 World Champion Armenia (1.5-2.5) in the fourth round. They beat Iceland (3-1) in the fifth, Bulgaria (2.5-1.5) in the sixth round before settling a draw with Hungary (2-2 ) in the seventh and upset England (3-1) in the eight round.

The Filipinos failed to continue their winning ways after losing to China (0.5-3.5) in what could be a battle of Asia's supremacy and had a chance to catch up No.1 Russia, No.3 Armenia and No.5 United States for the leadership board after the ninth round.

"If we beat China in the ninth round y'un sana ang turning point sa possible na coveted gold medal." said National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) Chairman/President Prospero "Butch" Pichay Jr.

In women?s play, Woman International Master (WIM) Catherine Perena will try to steer the Philippines past No. 39 Boznia and Herzegovina.

Perena (2091) will square off with WIM Elena Boric (2319) on board 1, WNM Janelle Mae Fayna (1991) opposite WFM Aleksandra Dimitrijevic (2280) on board 2, WNM Jedara Docena versus WFM Dijana Dengler (2066) on board 3 and WNM Jan Jodilyn Frona (2061) will face Sanja Dedijer (2036) on board 4.

The 57th-seeded Filipinas have 11 points, a good for share 39th to 57th place. The women's team wind up 44th place in the last Olympiad is coming a 2-2 stand-off against Malaysia in the tenth round.




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