Israeli GM Nitzann Steinberg
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cordova Dutchess Dagami Warriors cruised to their third straight win after sweeping their two matches on Wednesday, May 19, in the ongoing “Wesley So Cup” of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) Online Chess Tournament.
This after, they escaped the heavily-favored Negros Kingsmen and defeated the Lapu-Lapu City Naki Warriors in their two-game schedule.
The Dagami Warriors won over the Kingsmen via thrilling Armageddon tie-break matches, 2-1, after they tied at 10.5 points in regulation.
They defeated the Kingsmen in the blitz competition, 4.5-2.5, but the latter snatched the rapid category, 6-8, which tied their overall tally at 10.5 points.
Dagami Warriors import Grand Master (GM) Nitzan Steinberg of Israel then powered his team to victory by winning two of his three deciding games over International Master (IM) Joel Pimentel and Nelson Mariano of the Kingsmen.
The Israeli GM defeated IM Pimentel with a 56 Colle system move and edged Mariano with a 31 Scandinavian Mieses variation.
In the second game, the Dagami Warriors easily defeated the Naki Warriors, 13.5-7.5. They topped the blitz competition, 4.5-2.5, and sealed the rapid event, 9-5.
The other members of the Dagami Warriors are National Master (NM) Merben Roque, Allan Pason, Women’s International Master (WIM) Bernadette Galas, Mario Mangubat, Michael Joseph Pagaran, Bryle Arellano, Francisco Rivera, Dione Patrick Miñoza, and Yves Christian Fiel.
Dagami opened its campaign last Saturday with a win versus the Surigao Fianchetto Checkmates.
Meanwhile, The Toledo Trojans split their two-game schedule with a win and a loss against the Palawan Queen’s Gambit and the Camarines Soaring Eagles, respectively.
They bowed to the Soaring Eagles, 9.5-11.5, but routed the Queen’s Gambit, 12.5-8.5 in the second game.
The Naki Warriors also split their games. Before losing to the Dagami Warriors in the second game, they manhandled the Iriga Oragons, 14.5-6.5.
On the other hand, The Cebu City Machers suffered their third straight defeat after losing to the Queen’s Gambit in game one, 7.5-13.5, and to the Mindoro Tamaraws in game two, 9-12. They opened their campaign with a loss to the Toledo Trojans last May 15, 2021. /rcg