CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cordova Dutchess Dagami Warriors emerged as the only Cebu-based pro chess team which won all their matches against north division squads in the ongoing Professional Chess Association of the Philippines’ (PCAP) Wesley So Cup Conference.
Of the four Cebu-based teams vying in the prestigious online chess tournament, only the Dagami Warriors were able to survive last Wednesday’s round 17 with a clean slate after beating the Rizal Batch Towers, 17-4, and the Quezon City Simba’s Tribe, 15-6.
They won five of the seven matches in the blitz competition versus the Batch Towers to finish it with a, 5-2, score. In the rapid round, they won six of the seven matches, each worth two points to chalk up 12 points against the Batch Tower’s two.
In their showdown versus the Simba’s Tribe, the Dagami Warriors won six of the seven matches in the blitz round for an easy, 6-1, victory and four matches in the rapid competition along with one draw and one defeat to best Simba’s Tribe, 9-5.
Their solid performance last June 16 has kept the Dagami Warriors at second place in the south division rankings with 15 wins and two defeats behind the Camarines Soaring Eagles which has a similar record, but with higher accumulated points.
Dagami is manned by playing team owner Ariel Potot, National Master (NM) Merben Roque, Women’s International Master (WIM) Bernadette Galas, Mario Mangubat, Michael Joseph Pagaran, Bryle Arellano, and Allan Pason.
On the other hand, the Cebu City Machers split their two matches after winning over the Simba’s Tribe, 12.5-8.5, but lost to the Pasig City King Pirates, 5-16. Their win pushed them from 10th to 9th spot in the standings with a, 5-12 (win-loss) record.
They edged Simba’s Tribe in the blitz competition, 5.5-1.5, but only salvaged a 7-7 draw in the rapid event.
Meanwhile, the Toledo Trojans dropped to fifth place in the south division rankings after losing both their matches versus the Manila Indios, 8.5-12.5, and the Laguna Heroes, 6.5-14.5, last Wednesday evening. The Trojans tote an 11-6 (win-loss) card in the standings.
The Lapu-Lapu Naki Warriors on the other hand also suffered the same fate as the Trojans after getting clobbered by the Caloocan Loadmanna Knights, 5-16, and the Antipolo Cobras, 8.5-12.5.
The Naki Warriors remained at the eighth spot in the standings with a, 6-11 (win-loss) card. /rcg