CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Lapu-Lapu City Naki Warriors boosted their playoffs chances after sweeping their two matches on Wednesday and climbing to a share of fifth place in the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) Third Conference.
The Naki Warriors are tied with guest team Penang Blue Panthers in the Southern Division standings with 13 wins and eight defeats, and 248.5 points.
Since there are only two matches left to be played in the eliminations on Saturday, November 13, 2021, the Naki Warriors are virtually assured of a playoffs spot.
The Naki Warriors defeated the Mindoro Tamaraws and the Camarines Soaring Eagles in their two scheduled matches last Wednesday.
They routed the Soaring Eagles, 16-5 by winning both the blitz round with a 5-2 tally and the rapid game with an 11-3 score.
Lapu-Lapu’s Woman International Master (WIM) Bernadette Galas, International Arbiter (IA) Lincoln Yap, Allan Pason, and Ariel Joseph Abellana won their matches in the blitz and rapid rounds.
The Warriors outclassed Mindoro, 12-9, in their second match after scoring a 4-3 win in the blitz competition and a 9-5 tally in the rapid round.
On the other hand, the Toledo City Trojans split their two games on Wednesday. In their first match, the Trojans suffered a stinging, 10-11 setback against the Surigao Fianchetto Checkmates, 10-11 but rebounded with an emphatic, 17-4 victory against the Palawan Queen’s Gambit.
Toledo City is trailing Lapu-Lapu City in sixth place with ten wins and 11 defeats. They need to win their last two remaining matches on November 13 to cement their sixth place and advance to the playoffs.
The Iloilo Kisela Knights are leading the southern division standings with a 16-5 slate, followed closely by the Philippine Paralympic Chess team with the same win-loss record.
The Kisela Knights have higher total points of 279.5 against the Paralympians’ 244.5.
Guest team SinQGApore is at third with a 15-6 record while the Negros Kingsmen (14-7) is in fourth. Penang and Lapu-Lapu then follow suit at fifth place. /rcg
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