MANILA, Philippines – It was a catastrophic weekend for the Camarines Soaring Eagles when their relative cloak of invincibility was shorn off by the Manila Indios Bravos and then by their All-Filipino Cup finals conqueror, Laguna Heroes, in inter-division play of the Wesley So Cup.
Against Manila, it looked like it would be smooth sailing for the Soaring Eagles when they took the first three boards of blitz play courtesy of GM Mark Paragua, Ellan Asuela and WGM Marie Sebag against their Indios Bravos counterparts John Marvin Miciano, GM Ino Sadorra and Mira Mirano.
Manila responded with wins in their homegrown boards as provided by Cris Ramayrat Jr., Deniel Causo and Ronald Dableo to come within a point, 4-3, heading into rapid play.
Paragua and Sebag continued their mastery over Miciano and Mirano respectively as Sadorra managed a draw with Asuela.
Once more however, Manila’s bottom of the order came through with their senior and three homegrown boards bagging huge wins and the corresponding two points. Ramayrat, Causo, Dableo and Ryan Dungca all got huge wins and the eight points plus Sadorra’s split gave them a 9-5 advantage in rapid chess for an overall 12-9 win.
In the second game of the Saturday double-header, Camarines faced the hard-charging Laguna Heroes who have found their verve with their arrival of GM Kirill Shevchenko.
Shevchenko, an 18-year-old Grandmaster from Ukraine, defeated GM Mark Paragua in blitz play.
Ellan Asuela showed his moxie when he took his match-up from GM Banjo Barcenilla.
French WGM Marie Sebag continued to show why she is one of the best imports when she won her third match of the evening (she went on to win all four) as she took her face off with WNM Karen Enriquez.
Camarines’ bottom of the order once more failed to rise to the occasion when they were blindsided by senior player Efren Bagamasbad, Vince Medina and Kimuel Lorenzo for a 4-3 win in blitz chess.
Faced with a must-win situation in rapid chess, Camarines’ top two boards both lost to Shevchenko and Barcenilla, Sebag defeated Enriquez once more.
The bottom half of the Soaring Eagles’ boards got two points each from Virgen Gil Ruaya and NM Ronald Llavanes, but Christian Mark Daluz was unable to repeated his blitz win over GM John Paul Gomez as the Heroes took an 8-6 advantage that translated into a huge 12-9 win over Camarines.
It was the first time Camarines lost both games in a playdate and their folly saw them slip to second spot in the Southern Division as the Cordova Dutchess Dagami Warriors seized the initiative by dealing Pasig and Olongapo losses to move back into first place with a 17-2 slate.
Camarines, which has lost three of its last four matches, fell to a 15-4 record with Iloilo right behind them at 14-5.