By Gio Carlo D. Castro

Far Eastern University (FEU) Male Woodpushers kicked off its back-to-back title bid with a win against De La Salle University (DLSU) Green Woodpushers, 2.5-1.5, in the opening day of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) season 82 men’s chess tournament, last Saturday, September 14 at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Quadricentennial Pavilion.

The Morayta-based woodpushers made a historic campaign last year after dethroning the three-time defending kings National University (NU) Bulldogs and notched their 14th championship crown in the collegiate league.

Checking in to this season, Jeth Romy Morado, UAAP season 81 Rookie of the Year, settled for a tiebreaker board match with DLSU’s Tristan Ibaoc at 1.5-apiece. Second board seated Rhenzi Kyle Sevillano succumbed to his opponent, 0-1.

Third board seated John Merill Jacutina bagged a win over Daniel Lemi, 1-0, while fourth board player Darry Bernardo also grabbed a win against Kris Olvido, at 1-0.

However, FEU skipper John Jasper Laxamana told FEU Advocate that their team had a hard time with their season-opener game due to the result against the Taft-based woodpushers.

“Medyo nahirapan kami dahil ‘yung score mababa sa expectation and goal namin pero naipanalo pa rin [namin ang] laban sa DLSU (It was a bit difficult for us because the score that we had was too low from our expectation and goal but we were still able to win our match over DLSU),” shared Laxamana.

He then added, “At masasabi [ko na] maganda pa rin ang [simula] (And I can say that we still had a nice [opening game]).”

Eyeing for the 15th glory of the green-and-gold squad, Laxamana admitted that despite of being the reigning kings, several challenges will still knock his team including the opponents’ redemption over them.

“As defending champion, masarap ‘yung feeling pero madaming challenge [sa] mga kalaban mo na [gigil] (As defending champion, it’s a nice feeling but there are challenges within your opponents [who are hungry for redemption]),” he ended.

(See full album: UAAP 82 Men's Chess - FEU vs DLSU)