Toledo Xignex Trojans finally clinch first PCAP title
Toledo Xignex Trojans players, managers, and co-owners at the 39th SAC-SMB Cebu Sports Awards. | Contributed photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Toledo Xignex Trojans can now proudly call themselves champions after securing their first-ever title in the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) All-Filipino Conference, which concluded on Wednesday night, May 14.
The Trojans pulled off a stunning upset over the heavily favored, multi-time champions Pasig City King Pirates in the grand finals, putting an end to years of near-misses and heartbreak since PCAP’s inception in 2020.
Toledo took command early, winning the first set 13-8, and sealing the title with a 14-7 triumph in the second set of the best-of-two finals series.
In the first set, Toledo dominated the blitz round, 6-1, and held Pasig to a 7-all draw in the rapid round. They repeated their blitz performance in the second set with another 6-1 win and clinched the rapid round, 8-6.
A key factor in the Trojans’ championship run was the timely reinforcement of Grandmaster (GM) Oliver Barbosa, who bounced back from a difficult outing in the first set against Sherwin Tiu on Board 1. Reassigned to Board 2 in the second set, GM Barbosa delivered clutch victories over Tiu in both the blitz and rapid rounds.
Joining Barbosa in Toledo’s stellar performance was International Master (IM) Joel Banawa, who turned in a strong showing against Ildefonso Datu—winning their rapid round encounter in the first set and sweeping him in the blitz round of the second set on Board 1.
IM Joel Pimentel also proved vital to the Trojans’ success. He won both his blitz and rapid matches against Omar Bagalacsa in the first set and followed it up with another win in the rapid round of the second set on Board 6.
Other players who suited up in Toledo’s historic title win last Wednesday were Woman FIDE Master (WFM) Cherry Ann Mejia, Carlos Edgardo Garma, IM Kim Steven Yap, and Diego Abraham Capariño. The rest of the team’s roster included IM Rico Mascarinas, Bonn Rainauld Tibod, and Allan Pason.
The victory was even sweeter for the Trojans, who were coming off a painful loss in last year’s finals to the San Juan Predators despite an unprecedented 22-0 sweep in the eliminations—a franchise record.
Now, after years of chasing the crown, the Toledo Xignex Trojans have finally reached the summit of Philippine professional chess.
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