Kimuel Aaron Lorenzo bested Paul Sanchez to lead the Laguna Heroes to a 12-9 victory over the Caloocan Loadmanna Knights in the 2nd season of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) All Filipino Conference online chess tournament virtually held on the Chess.com Platform on Saturday, Feb. 5.
Lorenzo, the pride of Cabuyao City, Laguna, overpowered Sanchez in 25 moves of a Sicilian defense in the blitz portion and in 69 moves of a Dutch defense in the rapid game to lift the Heroes to their seven wins against one loss in the Northern Division.
The Loadmanna Knights dropped to 5-3 together with Cagayan Kings.
Board 3 player Woman National Master Jean Karen Enriquez yielded to Woman National Master Arvie Lozano in 43 moves of the Pirc defense in the blitz game but bounced back by eking out a 38 move victory of their King’s Indian attack encounter during the rapid play.
“Powered by two strong IMs in the top 2 boards, Caloocan is really a strong team. We had a tough match against them. We were really just lucky for winning the match,” Arena Grandmaster Dr. Fred Paez said.
Also delivering crucial draws for the Heroes were Grandmaster Rogelio “Banjo” Barcenilla Jr. (Board 1), Fide Master Austin Jacob Literatus (Board 2), International Master Angelo Young (Board 4), and Richie Jocson (Board 7).
Barcenilla, Literatus, Young, and Jocson split the points with International Master Paulo Bersamina, International Master Jan Emmanuel Garcia, International Master Domingo Ramos, and Alexis Emil Maribao, respectively.
Board 5 player International Master Barlo Nadera provided the full point for the Atty. Arnel Batungbakal Caloocan Loadmanna Knights squad in the rapid portion. Nadera nipped Vince Angelo Medina.
The Laguna Heroes edged Caloocan Loadmanna Knights in blitz portion, 4-3, as well as in the rapid format,8-6.
Heroes routed Cavite Spartans, 15-6, in the following round.
The Laguna Heroes look forward to another great performance on Wednesday night (Feb. 9, 2022) when they face San Juan and Quezon City. (PR) – bny
