RP Men jostle past Paraguay

(IN PHOTO: IM Richard Bitoon, RP's reserved player who has been displaying a no-reservation performance up to Round 4)

Three hardly fought draws. One convincing win. That's the performance of the Philippine Men's Team in Round 4 of the 2010 Chess Olympiad. They did it against Team Paraguay who was manned by one IM and three FMs.

It was a win, yes, but that's a win worth self-examining. Other than the needed match point, our team scored much more valuable gain from its hard-earned victory against Paraguay - that is, it gave us the reality check to ask ourselves, "Where are we now in the global chess competition?"

We might say to ourselves that we as a team are good. But it is also fitting to ask, "Are our competitors getting better?" We as a team might be getting better, too. But it is also another fitting question to ask, "Are they getting better much faster than we do?"

A win is a win? In terms of scoring points, yes. However, the difference between machines and human beings is that men make meanings out of numbers.

The hairline wins against Scotland and Paraguay are numbers telling us that the pace of competition is getting faster, the speed of which might have already outpaces our own speed. The numbers tell us we better take up some speed, or else, we would be left behind in the race.

RP vs Paraguay game results:

Match 33. Paraguay	1.5-2.5	Philippines
1. Cubas, Jose Fernando	½-½	So, Wesley
2. Latorre, Manuel	½-½	Gomez, John Paul
3. Vazquez, Guillermo	½-½	Torre, Eugenio
4. Peralta, Eduardo	0-1	Bitoon, Richard

RP vs Paraguay Round 4 games:
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The Philippine Men's Team will face Team Uruguay in Round 5. The tight performance against lower rated teams should be shaken off. Time to take up speed in Round 5.

RP vs Uruguay board pairings:

Round 5 on 2010/09/25 at 15:00
Bo.	74	Uruguay (URU)	Rtg	-	37	Philippines (PHI)	Rtg	0 : 0
28.1	GM	Rodriguez Vila Andres	2537	-	GM	So Wesley	2668
28.2	FM	Larrea Manuel	2323	-	GM	Gomez John Paul	2527
28.3	IM	Roselli Mailhe Bernardo	2399	-	GM	Torre Eugenio	2489
28.4		Guerrero Alvaro	2270	-	IM	Bitoon Richard	2447