COMING OFF a better showing last week, the Ateneo Blue Eagles hit a bump in the road as they lost back-to-back series matches, 1-3, against the reigning champions National University (NU) Bulldogs and the University of the East (UE) Red Warriors when they returned to the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Quadricentennial Pavilion on October 13 and 14 to conclude the fourth week of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 81 Chess Tournament.

The consecutive losses put the Blue and White squad in seventh place, with 14.5 points, four points shy of overtaking sixth place.

Cervero prevents a Bulldog sweep on matchday nine

The Blue Eagles’ captain Gavin Ong went on the first board as he played Paulo Bersamina for the second time this season. Not expecting a trap from the Bulldog, Ong entered Bersamina’s line of defense too early, giving the reigning Most Valuable Player (MVP) a board advantage that he would exploit for the rest of the match. After the loss, the third-year veteran said that he plans to carefully practice his continuation attacks in training to improve his overall performance for the rest of the tournament.

Vince Edralin was given the second board of play to match up with NU’s Robin Ignacio. The promising freshman was able to predict his opponent’s moves well to start the competition until NU suddenly made a “human move” or a break from the successive moves of a prepared opening to rattle Ateneo’s defense. Ignacio took advantage of the moment and proceeded to occupy Edralin’s side of the board by vigorously attacking the Kingside. This prevented the Blue Eagle from formulating a proper attack against his board, giving NU a two-point lead halfway into the series, 0-2.

Tristan Cervero was the lone bright spot for Ateneo on Saturday as he faced the Bulldogs’ Christian Magtabog on board three. With Magtabog playing freestyle for majority of the game, the rookie Eagle was given enough room to establish his King’s Indian Defense, a formation that uses the three center pawns and the Queenside Knight piece to take control of center board to start the match.

While both sides leveled with each other for the first half of the matchup, NU was able to claim the board advantage as they neared the endgame. However, Cervero was unfazed by the sudden deficit and waited for his opponent to make a mistake in their continuation. Magtabog failed to recognize a weakness in his defence, giving Cervero the chance to pounce. Ateneo claimed their first point of the series to trail the Bulldogs 1-2.

Alexander Santos suited up in a last-ditch effort at a tie for the final board of play as he faced Arnel Iligan. The rookie lost the match to the Bulldog after a tense ending to the match as NU claimed victory against Ateneo for the second time this season at 1-3.

Ateneo unable to close a series draw for a second time against UE

Ong was able to play UE for the second time this season, facing Michael Suacillo on the first board. Knowing that the Red Warrior tends to open matches by moving the Queen’s Pawn out to D4, Ong responded by lining his pieces in a Queen’s Gambit Declined, a simple formation where the defense’s Queen and King pawn are moved to squares E4 and G3 respectively to prevent the D4 pawn from crossing the center board. After this, the veteran was able to capitalize on his continuation attack to edge out Suacillo and give Ateneo an early lead in the matchup, 1-0.

For his ninth UAAP game, Edralin was inserted on the second board as he faced the Red Warriors’ Eliseo Budoso. Playing on White, Edralin struggled to form his opening line because he could not predict his opponent’s defensive strategy. However, Budoso was able to prepare against the Eagles’ rookie by using a sideline version of the Reversed Reti Opening, a strategy where both Knight pieces are brought outside the pawn line to start the match. The formation caught the freshman off guard, eventually giving UE their first point in the series to tie the game 1-1.

Cervero was given third-board responsibilities as he matched up against UE’s Keneth Flores. The rookie started the game out strong as he was able to establish his King’s Indian Defense against his opponent. However, the Red Warrior responded by forcing Cervero to commit attack errors in the middlegame, causing time trouble for the Blue and White as the match ended. This gave UE the series lead at 1-2.

Santos sat on the fourth board for the Blue Eagles as he faced Sean Olan in a final effort to even out the series with UE. The Blue and White rookie fell to Olan at the endgame to give the Red and White the series win at 1-3.

The Ateneo Blue Eagles will look to bounce back against the Adamson University (AdU) Soaring Falcons and the Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraws on October 20 and 21 at the same venue.

Scores:

Board 1: Gavin Ong los. Paulo Bersamina 0-1

Board 2: Vince Edralin los. Eliseo Budoso 0-1
Board 3: Tristan Cervero def. Christian Magtabog 1-0

Board 4: Alexander Santos los. Arnel Iligan 0-1

End of day score: Ateneo 1 NU 3

Board 1: Gavin Ong def. Michael Suacillo 1-0

Board 2: Vince Edralin los. Robin Ignacio 0-1
Board 3: Tristan Cervero los. Keneth Flores 0-1

Board 4: Alexander Santos los. Sean Olan 0-1

End of day score: Ateneo 1 UE 3