THE ATENEO Men’s and Women’s Chess Teams continue their tough slide in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 84 Chess Tournament, where both teams remain winless after yesterday’s set of matches held at the Far Eastern University (FEU) Gym in Manila City.
On a busy and grueling day, the Ateneo Men’s Team experienced two lopsided 0-4 defeats against the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Growling Tigers and the De La Salle University (DLSU) Green Archers. Meanwhile, the Women’s Team was struck with its first loss of the season after falling short to the DLSU Lady Archers with a final score of 1.5-2.5. The two teams remained winless after a week’s worth of competition, as the Men’s Team fell to a cellar-dwelling 0-0-4 win-draw-loss record while the Women’s Team stood at a 0-2-1 slate.
Alexander Santos, Jaime De Veyra, Paolo Villa, and Joshua Tan put up hard-fought but unvictorious showings for Ateneo, as they were swept by both UST and DLSU in the third and fourth ties. Each player competed in the first, second, third, and fourth boards, respectively in both matchups.
After tallying stalemates through their first two matches, the Ateneo Women’s Team started its duel versus their school rivals Lady Archers with Blue Eagles veteran Merlene Membrere conceding a point to Taryn Espiritu. Ateneo quickly tied the contest to one apiece after Alexis Osena’s triumph over the higher-rated Samantha Revita in the following DLSU board.
Despite having the opportunity to take the lead, Ateneo’s Glesit Tatoy suffered a crushing blow after being outclassed by DLSU’s Francois Magpily in the penultimate board. The Women’s Team was unable to snag another draw and instead was dealt with its first loss after Laila Nadera’s tie concluded the Blue Eagles’ performance at a score of 1.5-2.5 against the Lady Archers.
The Ateneo Chess Teams remain in the hunt for their first victories on the boards as the Men’s Team will be taking on the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons, while the Women’s Team will battle out the National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs and FEU Lady Tamaraws, on Wednesday at 9:00 AM in the FEU Gym in Manila City.
