GIVEN a gift horse in the mouth when the Camarines Soaring Eagles lost both matches last Saturday, the Cordova Dutchess Dagami Warriors blinked.
Just like that, they fell from the pole position of the Southern Division standings of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines Wesley So Cup to second place.
After Camarines lost both its matches and Cordova won both its games last Saturday, the Warriors regained the top spot with a 15-2 won-lost record.
The Soaring Eagles tumbled to second spot with a 15-4 card.
But at the resumption of matches on Monday, Cordova lost to the Manila Indios Bravos, 12.5-8.5, and the Laguna Heroes, 12.5-8.5.
With Camarines regaining its bearing with triumphs in their Monday tussles against Isabela, 16-5, and Cavite, 14-7, the Soaring Eagles switched places with Cordova with a 17-4 slate with the latter dropping into second, 15-4.
Last Monday evening, Cordova couldn’t make any headway against Manila’s Indonesia International Master Yosef Taher in blitz. Merben Roque could only draw with John Marvin Miciano on Board 2 although lady player Bernadette Galas won Board 3 to give Cordova something to cheer about.
Manila’s Cris Ramayrat Jr. had his Cordova counterpart Mario Mangubat’s number in restoring Manila’s advantage.
If Cordova needed to pull a rabbit out of its hat, the homegrown cadre needed maximum points in both blitz and rapid—except Manila took a 2-1 advantage in the lower boards for a 4.5-2.5 lead heading into rapid.
In rapid play, both teams were even on the top three boards with three points apiece, but, it went down to the senior board and the homegrown players—the Indios Bravos’ 5-3 advantage gave them an 8-6 win for a total of 12.5-8.5.
In the final battle of the Monday double header that was a make-up match for the postponed games due to a typhoon that hit the south a couple of weeks ago, the Warriors were up against the Laguna Heroes that seemed to have shed their early tournament woes.
Galas was once more Cordova’s rock as she held her own while the top two boards faltered. This time the bottom of the order did not wilt as they drew level from the senior to the homegrown boards, 3.5-all, after blitz play.
Come rapid play, Laguna’s senior and homegrown boards wrested the crucial two points each and added to the superb work from their top two boards. Laguna took a 9-5 win for an overall 12.5-8.5 win.
With a day to regain their bearings, the Dutchess Dagami Warriors will have their work cut out for them as they face Isabela and Cavite this Wednesday, June 23, at the resumption of inter-division play.
The Isabela Knight Raiders are in seventh spot of the northern standings with a 12-9 record that if they maintain or improve on will send them to the play-offs of the Wesley So Cup. Cavite on the other hand is on the outside looking in at ninth spot with a sub-par 7-14 record.
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