THE UST Male Woodpushers capped off Stage 1 of the UAAP men’s chess tournament unscathed after a 3-1 rout of the FEU Tamaraws at the FEU Tech Gym on Sunday, Oct. 29.
Reigning MVP Julius Gonzales remained unbeaten, outmaneuvering FEU’s Harvey Labanda in 29 moves.
Melito Ocsan Jr. suffered his first loss against Fide Master Jeth Morado’s Sicilian Defense in 32 moves.
In Board 3, Chester Reyes capitalized on the Grünfeld Defense to outsmart National Master Christian Olaybal in 68 moves, giving UST a 2-1 advantage.
Mark Daluz, who had a losing board throughout the game, swindled Hans Olorosisimo and his Modern Defense in 71 moves to end the Male Woodpushers’ first-stage campaign in a dominant fashion.
The UST Male Woodpushers concluded their first-stage campaign unbeaten, staying atop the standings with four wins and a draw to tally a league-high nine match points.
“Sana ma-maintain namin ‘yung top spot,” UST head coach Ronald Dableo told the Varsitarian. “Pero hindi pa tapos kasi two points lang lamang namin sa nakasunod. Kailangan talunin ulit namin ang Ateneo and sana maulit lang ‘yung performance nila (UST Male Woodpushers) sa next stage.”
The Ateneo Blue Eagles are the second-seeded team with seven match points, followed by the FEU Tamaraws and UP Fighting Maroons with similar match points of five. The DLSU Green Woodpushers placed fifth with three match points, while the Adamson Soaring Falcons remained the worst team with a single match point.
In the women’s division, the UST Lady Woodpushers absorbed another loss, this time a 3-1 defeat against the defending champions NU Lady Bulldogs.
Rohanisah Buto and her Scotch Opening allowed her to make a 31-move thrashing of NU’s Natasja Balabbo.
However, that was all for UST.
Lady Woodpushers Josemier Panol and Patricia Bernardo faltered against Woman Fide Master Allanney Doroy and Jelaine Adriano in 24 and 29 moves, respectively.
Princes Oncita and her Sicilian Defense failed to force an overall draw after being bested by Lady Bulldog Jesca Docenab in 56 moves.
The UST Lady Woodpushers remained at bottom with three match points built on one win and one draw. They had four losses in six rounds of play.
Meanwhile, the UST Male Woodpushers’ junior counterpart ended their first-stage campaign with a 2-2 stalemate with Far Eastern University Diliman.
Oshrie Reyes and Juan Rivera overcame their foes, while Karlycris Clarito and Al-Basher Buto suffered their first losses in the tournament.
The UST Junior Male Woodpushers ended the first stage in second place with seven match points (12.5 game points) behind FEU Diliman which tallied the same match points but are ahead in game points with 13.5.
Game points, which refer to the points scored by each team member, are used as the tiebreaker whenever teams end with similar match points.
The chess tournaments will resume after the weeklong break and the league has yet to announce the schedule of the second stage. Brenn Allen L. Flores with reports from John Peter L. Cajayon
