CEBU CITY, Philippines —The Toledo City Trojans secured the No. 4 spot in the upcoming playoffs of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) after beating Pagadian PCL in their last remaining elimination round match on Wednesday, July 20, 2022.
Compared to the previous conference where they ranked No. 6 going to the playoffs, this time, the Trojans have the upper hand for ranking at the No. 4 spot with 22 wins and 12 losses, which translated to 417.5 points.
They capped off the elimination round with a huge win against Pagadian, 16-5 last Wednesday.
The team headed by Chinese Grand Master (GM) Xu Yi overwhelmed Pagadian PCL, 6-1, in the blitz round, and went on winning the rapid round,10-4.
In the blitz round, GM Yi, Christopher Tubalado, Rafael Perez, National Master (NM) Merben Roque, Rommel Ganzon, and Glicerio Pardillo Jr. defeated Joel Anthony Hicap, Arena Grand Master (AGM) Julius Ablin, Resito David, Ruben Cuevas, Gabriel Cayanan, and Dioniver Medrano respectively.
Pagadian’s import, Maryna Petrenko of Ukraine prevented her team from a shutout loss to the Trojans by beating Jingky Catulay in the blitz round.
In the rapid round, Toledo City won five matches courtesy of GM Yu, NM Roque, Ganzon, and Pardillo Jr. against the same opponents.
This time, David defeated Perez, while Petrenko blanked Catulay in their rapid round match.
The Trojans are likely going to face the No. 5 team, the Surigao Fianchetto Checkmates in the first round of the playoffs. They have identical win-loss standings in the elimination round.
No. 3 team, Davao Chess Eagles will take on the No. 6 Zamboanga Sultans in the other playoff pairing.
The top team, Iloilo Kisela Knights and No. 2 Negros Kingsmen will wait for the No. 7 and No. 8 qualifying teams that will be vying in the play-in tournament tomorrow.
Camarines-Iriga, Tacloban, Palawan, and Cagayan de Oro will vie for the last two spots in the playoffs.
RELATED STORIES
Toledo City Trojans log 2 wins, stay in 5th spot in PCAP tournament
Toledo Trojans to return to action in PCAP chess tourney
San Juan tops PCAP All-Filipino chess
Arellano tops July 3 Cepca online chess tournament
Infinitum Chess Tournament returns to Cebu on July 16
Chess: 6 schools compete in Cesafi tourney
Cebu Chess Hub hopes to revitalize local chess scene
At 17, Quizon chases gold and GM norm
/dbs