THE BLUE and Lady Eagles entered the third round of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 80 Chess tournament on Saturday, February 24.
The Blue Eagles went toe-to-toe with the University of Santo Tomas (UST), while the Lady Eagles faced their rivals from De La Salle University (DLSU), at UST’s Quadricentennial Pavilion.
Lady Eagles
Round 3 ended with the Lady Eagles still searching for their first win of the season. The day unfortunately came to a close with the Lady Eagles failing to add to their overall season score.
The Lady Eagles had a rocky start as Ana De Duque fell to DLSU’s Woman International Master (WIM) Bernadette Galas on board one.
Their struggles continued as Aryanne De Ocampo was defeated by Woman Candidate Master (WCM) Mira Mirano. Trailing 0-2 in the tie, Team Captain Jasmine Principe took on WIM Marie San Diego on board 3 while board four featured Jill Feliciano as she stepped up against DLSU’s Kyla Camacho.
Unfortunately for the Blue and White, Principe and Feliciano both failed to pick up the points, which resulted in the Lady Eagles calling it a day at a devastating 0-4 score.
“Today, we faced three masters. Sa La Salle [team] may three masters sila. So, it was a really tough day today, but tomorrow we’ll have a better chance,” shared Principe.
Blue Eagles
The Blue Eagles entered Round 3 hoping to get back on track after a tough 1-3 loss last week to University of the East. When the round ended, however, the Blue and White were left winless.
Joseph Tsoi made his UAAP debut as he faced UST’s Philip Uy on board one. Unfortunately, Tsoi was bested by his foe as Ateneo fell behind 0-1.
Next up was Blue Eagle Keefe Tan who fell to Heirry Manaloto on board two, resulting in UST having a two-point lead. Renzo Marquez continued on to face Christian Flores on board three as the Blue Eagle tried to defend his 2-0 Season 80 record. Flores, however, handed Marquez his first loss of the season.
Jolo Lat was Ateneo’s last hope to score the Blue Eagles’ only point of the day as he went head-to-head with John Ablid on board four. Ablid completed the shut out for UST defeating Lat, and sending the Blue Eagles home with a 0-4 showing.
“Today was kind of disappointing, to be honest. Last weekend started off pretty well in the first round. In the second round we kind of dropped off a bit,” Marquez said. “We all started out pretty well, actually. I don’t know if it was nerves or something else, but we dropped off.”
The Blue and Lady Eagles’ next match day is scheduled on Sunday, February 25 in UST. The Blue Eagles will face DLSU while the Lady Eagles will take on Adamson University.
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