UST falters, now shares lead with FEU
By Anthony Divinagracia
02 February 2010 05:25 PM
Manila, Philippines - Defending champion Far Eastern University (FEU) caught up with erstwhile league-leader University of Santo Tomas (UST) in Round 7 of the 72nd UAAP men’s chess tournament on Sunday at the UST Tan Yan Kee Student Center.
The FEU woodpushers now crowd their UST rivals on top with identical 20 points after pulling off a 2.5-1.5 squeaker over the Tigers, courtesy of Luffe Magdalaga’s Board 3 wizardry over Jude Fronda.
“It’s a very scary match. Last year they beat us in the first round and we don’t want to repeat the same mistake by pressing ourselves too much just to win. I told the boys that if it’s a draw, then so be it. But Luffe (Magdalaga) showed character out there,” FEU coach Grand Master Jayson Gonzales said of Magdalaga, whose patient marshalling of the white pieces got Fronda’s defensive line into all sorts of trouble in their four-hour encounter.
“I’m happy that we are now tied with UST at first place. We just have to sustain the momentum going into the remaining rounds,” Gonzales added.
University of the East (UE) is currently at second with 17 points while University of the Philippines (UP) chalked up a third-best 13.5 markers, just a whisker ahead of De La Salle University’ 13. National University (NU), Adamson University and Ateneo de Manila University occupy the fifth to seventh places with 12, 11, and 6.5 points, respectively.
“It was a close fight. Medyo na-overlook lang ni Fronda ‘yung isang position towards the endgame. We could have forced a draw or win it at the most. Hopefully we can recover in our next match,” UST coach National Master Winston Silva said.
UST could have buffered the impact of its FEU debacle and remain in solo first, if not for a stinging 2-2 draw with UE in Round 6 on Saturday. In the same round, the Tamaraws, whitewashed Ateneo, 4-0.
“We expected to score a 3-1 win against UE, but the breaks of the game did not come our way in Board 1 and 3,” Silva said, referring to Joey Florendo and Fronda’s losses to Nelson Mariano III and Aaron Rivas, respectively.
Gerald Ferriol trounced Jayson Visca on Board 2 while Florendo’s bother Patrick outmaneuvered Rivas’s brother Amram on Board 4.
In other Round 7 matches, UP trounced Ateneo, 3-1, while Adamson and UE registered similar 2.5-1.5 wins over La Salle and NU.
FEU also continues to dominate the women’s bracket, amassing 18.5 points halfway into the tournament. Running second is Ateneo with 17 points, nearly five rungs ahead of defending champion La Salle, which already tallied 12.5 markers. UP is at fourth with 11.5 points. NU (which took a Round 7 bye), UST and UE round up the standings with 9, 8 and 7.5 points, respectively.
In juniors’ play, Adamson blanked UST, 4-0, NU clobbered UE, 3-1 and FEU edged out Ateneo, 2.5-1.5.
Other Round 6 results were as follows:
(MEN)
NU defeated Adamson, 2.5-1.5
UP defeated La Salle, 2.5-1.5
(WOMEN)
UE defeated NU, 2.5-1.5
UP drew with La Salle, 2-2
FEU defeated UST, 3-1
Ateneo – bye
(JUNIORS)
NU defeated La Salle-Zobel, 4-0
FEU drew with Adamson, 2-2
UE defeated Ateneo, 3-1
UST – bye
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