Bucking the loss of Grandmaster Eugene Torre at board one, the Filipinos swept the last three boards to climb 18 notches to 30th place, a spot they share with England, Iceland, Germany, Croatia, Norway, Peru, Colombia, Switzerland and Malaysia.

National champion Darwin Laylo, playing white, collected his second straight win at the expense of International Master Daniel Mieles in 47 moves of a Colle System.

Laylo played aggressively, doing away with castling to press his advantage in development. He eventually won two pawns following deft handling of his two rooks to record his third victory against a lone defeat.

FIDE Master Oliver Dimakiling, playing against the Reti Opening with black, won a slambang encounter with Miguel Medina after 43 moves.

Pazos sacrificed a knight for two pawns and unleashed a kingside attack that nearly succeeded.

Dimakiling’s defensive skills, however, stood out. By the time the smoke of battle cleared, he had an extra rook and bishop.

So, handling white, labored hard to secure his second win at the expense of IM Plinio Pazos in 60 moves of a Modern defense.

The 12-year-old prodigy sweated it out with Pazos in a game marked by boring maneuvers, eventually winning a pawn in the endgame.

So remains undefeated in four games with two wins and the same number of draws.

The sparkling play by the team’s reserves more than made up for the shock loss of Torre and the 2.50.5 defeat administered by Belarus to the national women’s squad in the sixth round.

Torre, playing black, bowed after 36 moves to GM Carlos Franco Matamoros who set up the win following an exchange sacrifice that created two passed pawns.

"I miscalculated the exchange sacrifice," rued the 53-year-old team leader who will take a breather when the team battles Iceland Sunday.

GMs Mark Paragua and Joey Antonio swing back into action against dangerous Iceland, a team filled with GMs. Also seeing action are Laylo and Dimakiling.

With 14.5 points after six rounds, the Filipinos stayed on track for a Top 20 finish.

"Our goal is to go into the last three rounds with 23.5 points and hope to close out with 7.5 for 31 points which should be enough for a Top 15 finish," said Torre, a fixture in the Olympiad since 1970.

Based on Torre’s estimate, the Filipinos need to collect nine points in the next four rounds.

RP captain Sammy Estimo, who has been doing a fine job juggling his players, said the goal is achievable.

"We should strive to keep our top players fresh for the final push," said Estimo who is awaiting the arrival of National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) President Rep. Prospero Pichay Jr.

In women’s play, Sherily Cua held WIM Anna Sharevich to a draw to avert a shutout following the losses absorbed by Catherine Perena and WIM Beverly Mendoza to Nadezhda Azarova and WIM Tatiana Berlin, respectively.

The Filipinas fell to a tie for 50th place with nine other teams, including seventh round opponent Finland.

Meanwhile, the Netherlands upset top seed Russia, 2.5-1.5, allowing Armenia to seize the lead with 18 points. The Dutch were in solo second with 17.5 points, half-a-point clear of Russia and Belarus.

The United States edged China, 2.5-1.5, to improve to 16.5 points in the company of Ukraine, Sweden and India.

Russia continued to pace the women’s division with 14.5 points, half-apoint ahead of Ukraine.