By Vince Matthew Jaramilla

With the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) introducing new chess formats in Season 87, the Far Eastern University (FEU) chess teams showcased their dominance in the sport yet again with two gold and two silver finishes in the rapid chess tournaments earlier today, March 29, at the Adamson University St. Vincent Gym in Manila City.

Despite coming into the Final Four at third place, the Lady Woodpushers channeled a championship-caliber performance, beating De La Salle University in the semifinals and then toppling Ateneo de Manila University with scores of 4.0-0.0 and 2.5-1.5 in the finals.

Unfortunately, their men counterparts had a contrasting outing after notching the top elimination round spot. The Woodpushers managed to overpower the University of the Philippines in the semis, but ultimately stumbled against University of Santo Tomas (UST) in the title bout.

The men’s finals were tied after 2.5-1.5 and 1.5-2.5 finishes, and were decided through a tiebreaker with the Board 1 result, played by Tamaraw Mark Jay Bacojo.

For the high school divisions, the boys conquered UST while the girls fell short against them, producing another split result of gold and silver.

In a post-event interview with FEU Advocate, Lady Woodpushers captain and Women’s FIDE (International Chess Federation) Master Glysen Derotas highlighted how all the stress and hard work they went through became worth it.

“It was exhilarating. Very kabado, the pressure, but all I can say is that I’m so proud sa team namin and very thankful sa coaches namin… Binuhos talaga nila lahat ng oras nila… Worth it lahat ng pagod kasi grabe ‘yung binuhos namin na oras para dito (They really poured in all their time for us… All the hard work is worth it because the time we spent for this was really a lot),” she said.

FIDE Master Bacojo then admitted their shortcomings against their opponents during the finals.

“We almost made it to the championship but unfortunately we [fell] short… They were just better,” he stated.

With the blitz format quickly nearing, head coach and Grandmaster Jayson Gonzales mentioned his hope for them to finally achieve championships in all four chess divisions.

“Kaya naman kunin talaga ‘yung apat [na championships]... We have a very strong program sa FEU in terms sa chess at ang ating players naman ay well-trained so we’re expecting to have more trophies sa blitz… Kung dalawa ngayon sa rapid, hopefully, makakuha tayo ng mas mahigit pa sa dalawa, if not four (We can definitely get the four championships… We have a very strong chess program in FEU and our players are well-trained so we’re expecting to have more trophies in blitz… If we got two here in rapid, hopefully, we notch more than two, if not four),” he remarked.

The said blitz chess tournaments will officially open tomorrow, March 30, at the same venue.

(Photo courtesy of the UAAP Media Team)