UAAP: Woodpushers dominate rivals to begin season

As the new year kicks into high gear and with everyone back in motion, UAAP Season 76 is back in business, too, with the UAAP Chess tournament blasting off last January 11, 2014 at the Enrique Razon Sports Center in De La Salle University.

On the first day, the DLSU Green Woodpushers upset the defending champions, the UST Growling Tigers, after Aglipay Oberio and the rest of the squad picked up a 3-1 victory.

The first board featured Green Woodpusher Franz Grafil, who beat UST’s Timothy So Kua in a hard fought match. Following this, La Salle’s powerhouse Aglipay Oberio gained another point for DLSU with a win over Steven Dacanay. Christian Nanola, however, came up short for La Salle as he was pitted against Christian Flores in the third board. Flores, in the end, sealed the match against Nanola as he helped UST avoid a first day sweep.  Jan Galan then concluded the first day for the Green Woodpushers as he trounced Normel De Jesus in the fourth board and completed their first victory of the season.

Simultaneously, the DLSU Lady Woodpushers began their quest to retain their throne after they toppled the FEU Lady Tamaraws, 3-1, to secure their first win this season.

Team captain Jan Fronda scored first as she kept her leverage high over FEU’s Venice Vicente in the first board. In the second board, Cherry Mejia kept everything in check as she bested Janelle Frayna for the victory. In the third board, however, Bernadette Galas was denied victory by FEU’s Enrica Villa, preventing a sweep for DLSU. Judith Pineda, however, delivered the killing blow for FEU as she concluded the bout with a win against Gladys Romero in the fourth board.

The following day, the Lady Woodpushers made it two in a row as they beat the AdU Lady Falcons, 3-1. Fronda, a former UAAP MVP, quickly disposed of Adamson’s Canada in the first board. However, the 18 year-old Mejia, a 2011 SEA Games individual rapid chess silver medalist, suffered an unexpected Board 2 setback against AdU’s Eloisa Sta. Rita. Acedo and Galas sealed the victory for the Lady Woodpushers in the succeeding matches over Lucero and Jon Ira dela Cruz to give DLSU a 2-0 start in the UAAP tourney.

The Green Woodpushers were just as successful as their female counterparts on the second day as they trounced the ADMU Blue Eagles, 3-1.

The sophomore Oberio, Jeazzir Kline Surpos and UAAP Season 75 Rookie of the Year Galan, led the charge for DLSU as they won the second, third and fourth boards, making up for the loss of Franz Robert Grafil in Board 1 which gave the Katipunan-based squad their only win of the day.

Both teams return to action on January 18, Saturday, at the same venue at 1 pm. The Green Woodpushers will take on FEU while the Lady Woodpushers face NU.