Cordova, Iloilo move up Wesley So Cup south as Camarines falters

MANILA, Philippines – Without their full lineup, the Camarines Soaring Eagles struggled and split their Wednesday, June 23, double-header in the Wesley So Cup.

For their first match of the evening — the final matches of inter-division play — Camarines without GM Mark Paragua and Christian Mark Daluz, faced the unpredictable Cagayan Kings with their Uzbekistani GM Alexei Barsov and homegrown wunderkind Jake Tumaliuan.

And both sides battled to a 3.5 draw in blitz play.

Come rapid, two key matches prevented an upset as Virgen Gil Ruaya drew with Barsov and NM Ronald Llavanes drew with Robert Mania on the homegrown board. That gave the Soaring Eagles some buffer as French WGM Marie Sebag was stunned by Cagayan’s April Joy Ramos.

Both sides finished rapid chess with an even 7-all score sending the match into Armageddon.

Once there, Sebag, Ruaya and Ellan Asuela got the better of Cagayan’s Barsov, Don Tyrone delos Santos, and Mania respectively for a 3-0 win.

Having barely survived tough Cagayan, Camarines went into their second match this time also without Sebag. Missing their two Grandmasters and their top homegrown player, the Soaring Eagles got trounced by the Caloocan LoadManna Knights by the unlikely score of 16.5-4.5.

Paragua missed the games because it was his child’s graduation in New York City while Sebag had work. Daluz in the meantime was unable to join because of a lack of internet access.  

The split decision saw Camarines fall all the way back into third slot with an 18-5 record in the Southern Division standings as Cordova won both their matches against Isabela (16-5) and Cavite (15-6) to go up. 19-4, and the Iloilo Kisela Knights pulled off a twin kill with victories over Laguna (11-10) and Isabela (16-5).