MONTHS AFTER their fourth-place finish in Season 84, the Ateneo Women’s Chess Team secured the overall bronze medal in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 85 Chess Tournament. The team’s final match against the Adamson University (AdU) Lady Falcons was held earlier today at the Far Eastern University (FEU) Tech Gym in the City of Manila.

Coming off two crucial victories against the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons and the National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs, the Blue Eagles looked to secure a podium finish. Ateneo’s Jiessel Marino, Laila Nadera, Alexis Oseña, and Kristine Flores were able to do just that by winning all four of their boards against their Ermita-based counterparts.

With this victory, the Blue and White earned a top-three finish in UAAP Women’s Chess for the first time since their silver-medal triumph in 2011. Today’s result is also the team’s third sweep in its history and its second-straight after their 4-0 triumph against NU last December 11. 

Heading into today’s matchup, Flores was elated that the team garnered more than the required two minimum wins out of all four boards to secure a podium finish. “Must-win talaga ‘yung two games namin pero naging blessing siya kasi nag 4-0 kami. (We only needed to win two games so it’s a blessing for us to go 4-0),” she shared.

Aside from clinching a podium finish, Flores was also one of the two gold medalists for the Blue Eagles, winning the medal for Women’s Board 5. Team Captain Oseña also won gold through her victory in Women’s Board 4.

After the team’s stellar performance in the tournament, Head Coach Yves Ranola looks ahead to Season 86.  “Hopefully ma-surpass namin ‘yung achievement na third place, not only sa women’s but also sa men’s (Hopefully, we can surpass our third-place finish, not only for the women’s team but also for the men’s team),” he said. 

Ranola also hopes that the players will be able to get much-needed experience for the upcoming season by playing in multiple tournaments.

The UAAP Season 85 Women’s Chess Tournament concludes with the Ateneo Women’s Chess Team finishing at third place, earning a total of 28.5 points. Meanwhile, defending champions National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs were able to win back-to-back titles, with a total of 29.5 points. Finishing in second place is the De La Salle University (DLSU) Lady Woodpushers, also garnering 29.5 total points, with NU edging out DLSU in Round 2 with more match wins.