THE ATENEO Blue Eagles finished the penultimate day of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 84 Chess Tournament with two losses in the women’s division and the first win in the men’s tournament. The Ateneo Women’s Chess Team bowed out to the two highest ranking teams, while the Men’s Team finally snatched their first win of the season, on June 12 at the Far Eastern University (FEU) Engineering Building in Manila City.
The determined Ateneo Women’s Team were held off by the National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs, 0.5-3.5, and the De La Salle University (DLSU) Lady Archers, 1.5-2.5 in well-contested matches. The two losses against the elite teams served as a harsh welcome for the Ateneo Women’s Team, as they began their initial campaign in the Final Four in several years.
In the Final Four’s opening tie, the Blue and White’s Alexis Oseña hung close to NU’s Princess Balete as both players settled for a draw on the first board. Shortly after, the Blue Eagles were swiftly neutralized by the Lady Bulldogs when Laila Nadera, Kristine Flores, and Jiessel Marino fell to their foes in the second, third, and fourth boards, respectively.
The succeeding match of the day saw the notorious Ateneo-De La Salle rivalry transcend onto the chess boards in a fiercely fought battle. For boards one, two, and three, Ateneo’s Oseña, Glesit Tatoy, and Nadera settled for stalemates against their respective DLSU foes, Taryn Espiritu, Samantha Revita, and Francois Magpily, in what was shaping out to be a cardiac finish. It was DLSU’s Sara Olendo who helped the Lady Woodpushers break through for the win as she overwhelmed Ateneo’s Kristine Flores in the fourth and final board.
Following the day’s outcomes, the Women’s Team stands at fourth place, with Ateneo currently holding a 0-0-2 win-draw-loss record marked by two points in the Tiebreak 1 category, and one point in the Tiebreak 2 category. The Tiebreak 1 category considers the game points earned by a team, while the Tiebreak 2 category factors in the match points—calculated as two points per win, one point per draw—of each team. Ateneo trails the Adamson University (AdU) Lady Falcons (0-1-1) for third as they cling to a one-point lead over the Blue Eagles in the Tiebreak 2 category.
Despite the disappointing results for the Women’s Team, the Men’s Team had a better outing by getting its first win of the season after outclassing the AdU Soaring Falcons, 2.5-1.5, following a narrow 1.5-2.5 loss in the hands of the DLSU Green Archers.
Blue Eagles Joshua Tan, Jaime De Veyra, Alexander Santos, and Vince Edralin facilitated the boards for the Men’s Chess Team’s loaded day of contests. Ateneo’s upset bid versus DLSU was ignited by Edralin’s victory over Evan Ong and a stalemate between De Veyra and Daniel Lemi. However, Blue Eagles Tan and Santos were unsuccessful in securing more points for their team as they were outfinessed by their individual matchups. A long-awaited redemption then followed versus AdU, with Tan and Santos notching a win and a tie over the Soaring Falcons’ Erick Valdez and Alfonso Olendo, respectively. Edralin’s victory over AdU’s Jolan Ballobar turned to be the elusive exclamation point to Ateneo’s first win after dropping the tournament’s first eight games.
The fourth-seeded Ateneo Women’s Chess Team is set to challenge the third-seeded AdU Lady Falcons in a highly consequential final matchup at 2:00 PM on Wednesday, June 15 at the FEU Engineering Building in Manila City. A win against the Lady Falcons will guarantee the overachieving Ateneo Women’s Team an impressive third-place finish in the season’s tournament. Meanwhile, the Men’s Chess Team will close out their campaign against the FEU Tamaraws at the same time and venue.
