MANILA, Philippines – Now, the Caloocan LoadManna Knights are humming.
With Vietnamese WIM Hanh Luong Phuong finally in the lineup, the LoadManna Knights steamrolled past the Laguna Heroes, 16-5, and the Olongapo Team Rainbow, 18-3, to stay undefeated at 7-0 in the Wesley So Cup, the second conference of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines.
Against the Heroes, Caloocan blitzed them, 5-2, then thrashed them in rapid play, 11-3.
IM Paulo Bersamina, IM Chito Garma and Paul Sanchez collected all three points available from their matches.
WIM Hanh was able to bounce back in rapid play after losing to Karen Jean Enriquez in blitz play.
Against Olongapo, Bersamina, Arvie Lozano, Garma, Sanchez and Alexis Maribao were able to claim all three points against their respective Olongapo opponents.
The 7-0 start of Caloocan is their best since they opened the inaugural All Filipino Cup with an 11-0 blast from out of the gates.
Said team owner Atty. Arnel Batungbakal, “Not to take anything away from the performance of our senior players in the past, but the consistency of IM Chito (Garma) is infectious and it has affected the team in a positive way as seen in the performance of our team.”