[ad_1]
The Philippines swept their final three rounds, including unexpected victories over the top two seeds, India and Kazakhstan, for second-seeded in the knockout quarterfinals of the 2020 Asian Nations Online Chess Cup on Sunday.
The Filipinos killed the Indians, who were the 2020 FIDE Online Olympiad co-champions with the Russians, then defeated the Kazakhs in second place with identical scores of 2.5-1-5 in the seventh and eighth rounds.
The Agilas then capped off a perfect matchday with a 3-1 win by Kyrgyzstan in the ninth and final round to finish second with 14 match points.
PH’s men’s team was tied with Mongolia with the same match points and tiebreaker scores (24-24), but the Nationals beat the Mongols, 2.5-1.5, in the fifth round in the decisive tiebreaker for the second. head of series.
The PH team attracted a familiar foe at No. 7 Kazakhstan on Friday in a format where each team will play two games and a blitzkrieg “Armageddon” in the event of a tie.
The other quarterfinal pairs face No. 1 Iran against No. 8 Singapore, No. 3 Mongolia against No. 6 India, and No. 4 Australia against No. 5 India.
Against Kyrgyzstan, Grandmaster Banjo Barcenilla and International Masters Paulo Bersamina and Haridas Pascua lashed out at IM Mikhail Markov, IM Asyl Abdyjapar and Ruslan Sezdebekov on boards two through four, while GM Mark Paragua blew another tie game and succumbed to IM Semetey Tologontegin on the top board.
Against Kazakhstan, Bersamina and Pascua came out ahead with decisive wins, while Barcenilla saved a draw from a losing position.
Against India, it was Barcenilla who shone brightest with a landslide win over GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly on board two as Paragua, Bersamina and Pascua fought to tie.
The Lady Agilas, meanwhile, look to stay ahead as they battle the highly favored Indians in Monday’s seventh round.
SIGN UP FOR THE DAILY NEWSLETTER
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
