BUDAPEST—Julio Catalino Sadorra caught another super Grandmaster in A. R. Saleh Salem in presiding over the Philippines’ 4-0 carnage of the United Arab Emirates that kept it on course on eclipsing its best finish in the 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad at the BOK Sports Hall here.

Throwing a rarely used line against Salem’s pet King’s Indian Defense, Sadorra caught his befuddled foe grasping for straws in carving out a 35-move victory that he punctuated by sacrificing a bishop and a knight that left his rival’s kingside naked.

Daniel Quizon, Paulo Bersamina and Jan Emmanuel Garcia likewise hurdled their respective assignments—Omran Al Hosani, Sedrani Ammar and Fareed Ahmed—in the lower boards that helped the Filipinos ascend to a big group at top 20 with 12 match points apiece.

With two rounds to go, the country also stayed in the hunt of replicating, if not eclipsing, its best finish in the biennial meet at seventh in the 1988 edition in Thessaloniki, Greece where its current coach, GM Eugene Torre, was then its top board player.

The Filipinos, whose trip is being bankrolled by the Philippine Sports Commission and backed by NCFP chief Butch Pichay, clash with the 32nd-seeded, all-GM Georgians in the penultimate round hoping to realize that dream.

And it was because of this young man named Sadorra, who has been nothing short of spectacular here in the Hungarian capital as he flaunts an unbeaten score of six points out of seven games that included an impressive score of 3.5 points against four super GMs.

Interestingly, one of the super GM victims of Sadorra, Russian émigré Vladimir Fedoseev of Slovenia, shocked former world champion and current No. 1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway that same round.

That magnificence catapulted the University of Texas in Dallas coach to third in the running for an individual medal at board one with a performance rating of 2845, behind only Indian sensation Dommaraju Gukesh, who will challenge reigning world champion Ding Liren of China for the title late this year in Singapore, with a 3012 and Uzbek Nodirbek Abdusattorov with a 2949.

“I chose to play like Smyslov and used the Smyslov Variation against my opponent’s favorite King’s Indian,” said Sadorra referring to former world champion Vassily Smyslov of the Soviet Union.

“Nung nag c5 at b5 siya later, naging Benko structure pero worse version sa kanya,” he added.

Also, the Filipinos are also in contention for a category prize medal, an award given to non-podium finishers per their rating group, as they lead Group B in a super tight race.

It also made up for the heartbreaks of the Filipinas, who succumbed to the Romanians, 3-1.

Wonder girl Ruelle Canino clawed her way out of the grave by stunning WGM Carmen Voicu-JJagodzinsky at board that averted a sweep.

Janelle Frayna, Jan Jodilyn Fronda and Bernadette Galas all sputtered on boards one, two and four to Irina Bulmaga, Mihaela Sandu and Miruna-Daria Lehaci, respectively.

The Filipinas stumbled from a place in the top 30 to a spot in the top 50.