While the men’s team went south with its worst finish of 44th place, the women’s squad celebrated its best showing in the biennial event at 26th spot.

Both teams, however, lost their final round matches against superior opponents. The men bowed to Brazil, 1.52.5, while the women yielded to Slovenia, 0.5-2.5.

The delegation, bankrolled by National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) President Rep. Prospero Pichay Jr., won’t come home empty-handed, however.

The 60th-ranked women’s team won a gold medal for topping Category C.

Oliver Dimakiling became the country’s newest international master by scoring six points in nine matches.

National Master Rolando Nolte, the team analyst, also won a silver medal for finishing second in the Olympiad side event.

Against Brazil, the Filipinos settled for draws in the first three boards before capitulating in board 4.

Grandmaster Mark Paragua capped a forgettable debut at board one by drawing with GM Giovanni Vescovi, GM Eugene Torre halved the point with GM Gilberto Milos Jr. while GM Joey Antonio signed a truce with GM Neto Jaime Sunye.

Dimakiling, gunning for a GM result, lost to International Master Hilario Takeda Alexander in the only game that ended decisively.

As a result, the Filipinos dropped to 44th place with 28.5 points. The previous worst showing was 39th in Bled, Slovenia four years ago.

The failure to finish strongly told heavily on the Filipinos who managed only 3.5 points in the last two rounds.

Two years ago in Mallorca, Spain, they won the last two matches, scoring 5 points in the process to finish 19th.

"We may have finished badly, but we were always there. We showed we can fight it out with the elite teams," said Torre, who is leading a six-man team that will campaign in the San Marino Open.

Antonio, the team’s best performer with 7 points in 10 matches, is the only player not seeing action in San Marino. He’s scheduled to fly home Monday.

Despite an expected defeat from Slovenia Sunday, the women’s team will come home wearing a gold medal and a potential for more success in the future.

Rookies Catherine Perena and Sherily Cua may have lost their final matches against WGMs Anna Muzychuk and Ana Srebrnic, respectively, but their overall performances were short of phenomenal.

They combined for 12.5 of the team’s total 22 points.

WIM Beverly Mendoza was the lone survivor in the final round, holding WIM Jana Krivec to a draw. She finished the event with 6 points.

The Filipinas improved on the 27th place finish achieved by a team led by WIM Girme Fontanilla during the 1982 Olympiad in Lucerne.

Two years ago, they ended in 48th spot in Spain.

Meanwhile, Armenia won the men’s title with 36 points followed by China with 34. The United States finished third with 33 points.

In the women’s section, Ukraine emerged champion with 29.5 points. Russia settled for the silver medal with 18 points while China took the bronze with 27.5 points.