The Toledo City Trojans. | contributed photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines—The Toledo City Trojans defeated the heavily favored Zamboanga Sultans to advance to the semifinals of the ongoing playoffs of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) online chess tournament.
The Trojans are the only Cebu-based wood pushing team to reach this stage in the country’s biggest online professional chess tournament.
Their win over the Sultans was unprecedented after being beaten by the latter twice in the elimination round.
“They were ahead of us in wins and points. We did not win against them in the eliminations. We had a 50-50 percent chance going to the match against them but we still emerged victorious,” said the Trojans’ team manager Fide Arbiter (FA) Felix Poloyapoy Jr.
The Trojans scored 12.5 points over the Sultans’ 8.5 points in the first match. They did not give the Sultans time to breathe in the second game after scoring 12 points over the latter’s nine to seal the victory.
“We did not let complacency take over us despite winning the first round. We continued to play cautiously in the second game,” added Poloyapoy.
The Trojans is comprised of International Master (IM) Rico Mascariñas, Glicerio Pardillo Jr., Jinky Catulay, Bonn Rainauld Tibod, Christopher Tubalado, Rommel Ganzon, Ronald Ganzon, Rogelio Enriquez Jr, Jean Jean Gacang, and Richard Natividad.
They are scheduled to face the top-seeded Iloilo Kisela Knights in the semifinals on March 27, 2021.
The Kisela Knights ended Cordova Dutchess Dagami Warriors’ campaign last Wednesday to march to the semis with scores of 14-7,15.5-5.5.
“Iloilo is the number team in the south division. Our only chance to beat them is to study their style and find out their weak spots. I trust my players even though most of them do not have titles on their name. They proved to everyone that they are top-caliber chess players, and I’m very proud of them for reaching this far,” added Poloyapoy Jr.
Meanwhile, the Lapu-Lapu Naki Warriors were eliminated after losing to Negros Kingsmen in both matches.
/bmjo