The Toledo City Trojans. | contributed photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Toledo-Xignex Trojans wrapped up the elimination round of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) Wesley So Cup on top of the team standings.
This was after they finished their last two remaining elimination round matches with two huge victories against the Mindoro Tamaraws and the RCM Cebu Niños.
The Trojans also etched a historic franchise-record of 22 wins and three defeats with 352.5 points among nine other teams in the southern division.
They defeated the Tamaraws, 13.5-7.5. They lost the blitz round, 2.5-4.5, but dominated the rapid round, 11-3.
Fide Master (FM) David Elorta led the Trojans in beating the Tamaraws after winning both his blitz and rapid matches against Nazario Ubanan.
Allan Pason also won both his matches against Rainier Labay, while Grand Master (GM) Richard Bitoon bounced back from his blitz round loss against Jefferson Pascua by beating the latter in the rapid round.
Women’s FIDE Master (WFM) Cherry Ann Mejia and International Master (IM) Kim Steven Yap also won their rapid round assignments against Szente Varga Fruzsina and Nezil Arj Merilles, respectively.
Contrastingly, the Trojans had an easy time during their match against the Niños. They finished the blitz round with a 6.5-0.5 score, and went on to win the rapid round, 12-2, to finish with a total score of 18.5-2.5.
FM Elorta, GM Bitoon, Pason, and IM Yap defeated Aldwin Daculan, Reynaldo Flores, Rex Androe Cabuncal, and Elwin Retanal, respectively, in both the blitz and rapid rounds.
The Iloilo Kisela Knights (15-10) finished second followed by the Tamaraws (12-13) at third, while Davao Durianburg Stallions (11-14) is at fourth, and the RCM Cebu Niños (10-15) grabbing the fifth spot.
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