Palawan Queen's Gambit to take 1st conference learnings to heart

MANILA, Philippines – The all-female team of the Palawan Queen’s Gambit finished the inaugural All-Filipino Conference of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines with a 5-28 record.
 
That was good for 11th place in the Southern Division of PCAP — a game above the Iriga Oragons, who were dead last with a 4-29 slate.

Palawan head coach Susan Neri bared that the squad learned a lot in spite of their finish and the learnings should spur them forward and to better finished when the Reinforced Conference or Wesley So Cup gets going this May. 

“We learned three things in our maiden appearance in PCAP,” admitted Neri. 

The first point in the Palawan coach’s opinion, is their over-all game play.

“The conversion of match wins is one area which we will focus on because if we base it on our cumulative points, the quarterfinals isn’t impossible for us, clarified Neri. “It’s the match point that brought us down in the over-all standings. We have to work on that.”

“Aside from the straight wins, other high points were also in those 11-10 losses because we know we can compete.”

The Queen’s Gambit squad’s second point of learning is their lineup. 

“We also realized that our team composition was limited as we had no alternates (while other squads had alternates). Having no alternates or adequate rest between matches did not favor us. So we’re building a stronger team for the next conference.”

And lastly, it’s the team’s standing in the league. Neri believes that now they have adjusted to the league rules and how other squads were composed, they will fare much better and climb up the ladder of the southern squads next conference. 

“Now, we just have to solve these issues.”