CEBU CITY, Philippines— The Toledo-Xignex Trojans secured the No. 3 spot heading into the playoffs of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) Third Season first conference.
This, after the Trojans won their last remaining elimination round match by narrowly beating the Team Arriba Iriga City-Team Camarines, 11.5-9.5, Saturday night, April 15.
The Trojans finished the elimination round with an impressive 19 wins, nine losses and 344 points to earn the No.3 spot in the southern division standings.
They will likely face the Team Arriba Iriga City-Team Camarines in the playoffs as the latter finished in the No. 6 spot in the standings.
Meanwhile, Negros Island Region Kingsmen grabbed the top spot with a 25-3 (win-loss) record, followed by Davao Chess Eagles with a 21-7 record at second place.
During their win Saturday night, they beat the Team Arriba Iriga City-Team Camarines in the blitz round, 5.5-1.5.
Women’s International Master (WIM) Beverly Mendoza, IM Rico Mascariñas, Allan Pason, Bonn Rainauld Tibod, and National Master (NM) Merben Roque won their matches against Virgenie Ruaya, NM Carlo Lorena, Recarte Tiauson, NM Roland Llavanes, and NM Glenen Artuz, respectively.
Meanwhile, the Trojans’ board one woodpusher IM Kim Steven Yap had a draw with Chin Lim, while Richard Natividad lost to Ruther Barredo.
However, in the rapid round, Team Arriba Iriga City-Team Camarines bounced back strong and defeated Toledo, 8-6, but wasn’t enough to contribute to their total points.
Nativdad and NM Roque were the winning woodpushers for Toledo in the rapid round after they defeated Barredo and Artuz, respectively.
Still, Toledo emerged as the winner in the matchup mainly from their huge outing in the blitz round and two matches won in the rapid round.
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