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“Good enough.”
This is how the national coach James Infiesto of Davao City evaluated the fifth overall result of the Philippines 1 team, led by the International Chess Association for the Physically Handicapped (Ipca), champion of the 2020 World Online Chess Championship, master of Fide (FM ) Sander Severino and grandmaster of the arena of Panabo City AGM) Henry Roger Lopez, in his first Fide Online Chess Olympiad for People with Disabilities debuted recently.
Infiesto said: “We did our best and placed fifth overall of 60 teams. It is good enough for a beginner in the disabled team world championship.”
Philippines 1, also comprised of Darry Bernardo, Jasper Rom and Cheyzer Crystal Mendoza, scored a total of 10 points after seven rounds to fall behind the top four winners Russia 1 (13), Ukraine 3 (12), Poland 1 (11 ) and Poland 3 (10).
Poland 3 edged Philippines 1 for fourth place via top tiebreaks, 19.5-19.0.
At the Olympiad, a team victory is worth two points, while a draw is worth one point.
“We will try to come back better next year,” Infiesto, who is also the Davao regional director of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP), said in a Facebook interview with SunStar.
López, for his part, said that his feat was already something to be thankful for and celebrate.
“I am satisfied with our results as first-timers of this world event and we have won against the Poland 1 team, which was seeded first and featured a grandmaster (GM) on their roster. We also defeated Team 2 from Russia, “said the double silver and gold medalist at the 2018 Asian Games for Jakarta Games.
The Philippines 1 drew first with Canada, 2-2, before achieving a 4-0 shutout win over the United States of America and Russia 2 in the second and third rounds, respectively.
The Filipinos then held off fourth-seeded and mighty Israel in a 2-2 draw in the fourth before surprising victory over big-favorite Poland 1, 3-1 in Round 5.
The Infiesto Sentinels defeated Ukraine 1, 3-1, in the sixth round only to fall to Russia 1, 1-3, in the seventh and final round.
Lopez said: “Honestly, we will be happy if we can tie the game against the powerful Poles and Russians, but we have given them the opportunity to beat them and we seize it.”
He also said that competing in the tournament involved a lot of preparation. A strong internet signal was crucial, so he used a LAN connection and opted for an upgrade. It also booked a postpaid connection from another network in case of emergencies.
They played one round each starting at 10 pm for seven days and no one was allowed to be in the same room as the players while the games were in progress.
“We were on Zoom and we had to share the screen. PSC gave us laptops and that’s what I’ve been using since I joined the online tournaments in March. I only invested in a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) in case of outage. of energy, “added López.
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