Olongapo takes huge 1st win in Wesley So Cup

MANILA, Philippines – Even in the waning days of the elimination round of the Wesley So Cup, there are still plenty of surprises.

The Olongapo Rainbow Team 7, oft battered and beaten black and blue by its Northern Division and Southern Division foes when they cross over for a fight, finally bagged that elusive first win of the tournament when they defeated the Cavite Spartans, 2-1 in Armageddon.

Heading into the Wednesday evening matches, Rainbow Team 7 was 0-29 and losing by an average of nine points per match. The ignominy of finishing winless — although they suffered close losses to Manila, Laguna and Surigao — was staring them in their flushed and embarrassed faces with five matches to spare.

But in one moment, Olongapo salvaged a measure of pride. 

In blitz play, Olongapo got wins on their top boards from their Malaysian import Suhaib Azmi and Joshua Bautista, respectively. 

The Spartans’ lady player Melizah Ruth Carreon and senior player IM Petronio Roca evened up the score. 

Come the homegrown boards, the two squads traded wins but it was a crucial draw by Olongapo’s NM Gefer Imbuido that locked up Cavite’s AGM Voltaire Marc Paraguya that put the result at 3.5-all.

Come rapid chess, Olongapo once more took the top two boards with Cavite respo9nded in the next two. The homegrown boards also resulted in the same scenario — a win a piece and Paraguya and Imbuido drawing to send the outcome into Armageddon.

In the extra period, Bautista faced Roca and got the win. Lourencel Ecot evened up matters for Cavite with a win over Lou Anton Rivera. And this time, Imbuido pulled out a win against Paraguya to give Olongapo its first win of the second conference of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines, the Wesley So Cup.

It was a big loss for Cavite which is nestled at ninth place with a 10-21 record (they also lost their second match of the evening, 19-2, to Laguna). They hope to catch Cagayan — who lost both their matches of the night — 15.5-5.5 to Pasig, and 14-7 to Manila) for the last-seat on the playoff bus but the Kings have a 13-18 record. 

In their nightcap, they closely battled Caloocan but fell, 11.5-9.5 to go to 1-30.

It was a relief for Rainbow Team 7, which finished 10th in the All-Filipino Cup with a 12-22 record. 

Their final assignments of the tournament are against Rizal, Pasig and Manila.