Toledo Trojans lead PCAP All-Filipino Southern Division team standings

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CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Toledo Xignex Trojans captured the top spot of the southern division team standings of the ongoing Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) All-Filipino Cup First Conference.

This was after they beat the Camarines Soaring Eagles and the Arriba Iriga last Saturday, April 6. 

The Trojans first nipped Arriba Iriga in a lopsided fashion, 20-1, and beat the Camarines Soaring Eagles, 13-8.

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Saturday’s win put the Toledo Trojans at the top of the southern division standings with their five-win, one-loss record. They’re currently tied with the Soaring Eagles.

Team standings

However, they have the higher accumulated points which totals to 85 while the Soaring Eagles only have 77.5 points, to earn the coveted top spot of the team standings. 

In their match against Iriga, the Toledo Trojans swept the blitz round, 7-0.

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All of the players in Chin Lim, National Master (NM) Edmundo Gatus, Women’s FIDE Master (WFM) Cherry Ann Mejia, International Master (IM) Rico Mascarinas, NM Merben Roque, IM Joel Pimentel, and IM Kim Steven Yap beat Epifanio Bueno Jr., Rey Mark Sagario, Isabel Palibino, Roger Pesimo, Joeven Polsotin, Marvin Zuniga, and Jeffrey Vegas won respectively in the blitz rounds.

They also won in the rapid round, except for IM Mascarinas who was against Pesimo, after a draw which resulted in a 20-1 total score. 

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Hard-fought win

In their match against Camarines, the Toledo Trojans scored 5-2 in the blitz round and narrowly beat the latter, 8-6, in the rapid round. 

Lim, WFM Mejia, IM Pimentel, and IM Yap defeated Jose Bagamasbad, Bernadette Galas, Ronald Llavanes, and Coellier Graspela, respectively in the blitz round.

Lim, IM Pimentel, and IM Yap beat the same opponents in the rapid round to secure the hard-fought win. 

Trailing the Trojans and Camarines in the team standings of the southern division are the Davao Chess Eagles and the Iloilo Kisela Knights who have identical 4-2 (win-loss) slates. Davao is at third with a higher accumulated points over Iloilo.