THE ATENEO Men’s and Women’s Chess Teams absorbed losses in their respective University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 87 openers earlier this afternoon at the Adamson University Gym in the City of Manila. The Men’s Team fell 0.5-3.5 against the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Male Woodpushers, while the Women’s Team succumbed to the National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs, 1.5-2.5.

Squaring off versus UST were Blue Eagles Paul Llanillo, Romeo Canino, Khalil Kis-ing, and Knarf Batislaong, who occupied boards one, two, three, and four, respectively. In their bout against the defending champions, Team Captain Kis-ing eked out a draw against UST’s Melito Ocsan to hand the Men’s team their only point of the day.

Meanwhile, the women’s four boards saw Team Captain Kristine Flores, Elayza Villa, Lexie Hernandez, and Jiessel Marino go against reigning silver medalists NU. Along with Kis-ing, Villa also managed to secure a draw against Yana De Vera, earning a half point for the squad. The Blue and White’s sole win came courtesy of rookie Bullpup-turned-Blue Eagle Hernandez, who showcased a stellar UAAP debut in her drubbing of Queen Rose Pamplona.

Despite Ateneo’s loss, Hernandez, who claimed the silver medal last year in the UAAP Season 86 High School Girls’ Chess tournament with the NU-Nazareth School, remains determined and has high hopes for her team moving forward into the season.

“Ang mindset ng team ngayon is mag-c-comeback. Siyempre, dahil first round na natalo kami, we will do our best para mapanalo ‘yung mga susunod na laban and mas gagalingan and mas sisipagan pa namin para mag-tuloy-tuloy po ‘yung wins,” the rookie shared. 

(The team’s mindset right now is that we’ll come back. Of course, because we lost this first round, we will do our best to win our next games and we’ll do better and work harder to continue winning.)

“Gagawin po naming motivation this round na natalo kami para mas gumanda ‘yung laro namin sa mga susunod na game,” Hernandez concluded.

(We’ll use this loss as motivation so that we’ll play better in our next games.)

Carrying the lessons of today’s round, the Blue Eagles hope to bounce back and regain their momentum tomorrow, October 13, at 1:00 PM, in the same venue. The Men’s and Women’s teams will return for their second attempt to control the boards versus the Far Eastern University Tamaraws and Adamson University Lady Falcons, respectively.

Men’s Standings (W-D-L):

1. FEU Tamaraws (1-0-0)
2. UST Male Woodpushers (1-0-0)
3. UP Fighting Maroons (0-1-0)
4. DLSU Green Woodpushers (0-1-0)
5. ATENEO Blue Eagles (0-0-1) 
6. AdU Soaring Falcons (0-0-1)

Women’s Standings (W-D-L):

1. DLSU Lady Woodpushers (1-0-0)
2. NU Lady Bulldogs (1-0-0)
3. UST Female Woodpushers (0-1-0)
4. AdU Lady Falcons (0-1-0)
5. FEU Lady Tamaraws (0-0-0)
6. ATENEO Blue Eagles (0-0-1)
7. UP Fighting Maroons (0-0-1)