Berea Bananas and Zion King Crowned Champions in the 20th Ichthus Intramurals Chess Games

The Berea Bananas were crowned the overall chess champions in the Juniors’ Division, while Zion King won the Seniors’ Division, in the 20th Ichthus Intramurals held last November 9 in the MGC New Life Christian Academy chess varsity room. 

In the Juniors’ Division, the Berea Bananas first fought the Damascuties, as both teams had nail-biting matches to start their day, going 2-2 in both boys’ and girls' chess. As the scores were tied between Damascus and Berea, the competition winner would be determined by the batch that acquired more wins against the Nazareth Narwhals.

The Damascus boys were the first to face Nazareth, where they had an almost perfect score, going 3-1. At the same time, the Damascus and Nazareth girls went head to head. However, it was the first-timer Narwhals who triumphed with 1-3. Berea then dominated their Nazareth matches with a sweep in both the boys’ and girls’ divisions 4-0. 

For both the boys' and girls' Junior Division, the Berea Bananas finished in first place with six game points. The Cuties then finished in second place with five game points each for both divisions. The Narwhals finished in third place for both divisions with one game point garnered in each division.

In the Seniors’ Division, Zion dominated girls' chess while they had a very close battle for first to later checkmate their opponents to victory.

The first match of the Seniors’ Division was between the Olive Orions and Hippopatmos, where the girls' matches ended in a 2-2 tie, and the Olive boys defeated Patmos 3-1. Olive then challenged the Zion Kings, where the boys tied 2-2 and the girls in grade 9 were conquered by Zion at 3.5-0.5. The Zion girls won their last match of the day scoring 2.5-1.5 over the Patmos girls.

The final match of the day between the Zion and Patmos boys was the grand decider of the rankings as a sweep of all matches would seal Zion’s first-place win, whereas just one loss would require a tiebreaker Armageddon match. The Zion boys obtained a 3-1, requiring an Armageddon match. 

The Zion Kings selected Elliot Albano to represent the pride in the tiebreaker against the Orions’ Sebastian Gonzaga. With the Kings on white and the Orions on black, Zion ultimately won the match and grabbed the first-place title.

When asked about his thoughts regarding his batch’s boys’ victory, Albano commented, "It feels good to represent the batch in chess intrams. Winning feels good, and at the same time, it feels better to do it with my friends. All of us share the love of chess, and it was fun to not just do it with my batchmates but with other people who love chess, and we were able to make a fun atmosphere where we could play chess together."

The Zion Kings’ chess masters were Hans Tan, Elliot Albano, Kyle Chua, and Andrew Liu for the  boys’ category, and Selena King, Sharliz Siy, Yutong (Cindy) Xing, Annika Lee, and Ashley Yu for the girls’ Category. 

The chess stars of the Olive Orions were Sebastian Gonzaga, Aidan Kho, Carlo Chua, and Launce Ty for the boys’ category and Dana Chiong, Annika Chong, Janelle Lim, and Cara Gohoc for the girls’ category. 

Joshua Lim, Elijah Tongco, Jedidiah Chee Ah, Joshua Clark Tan, Matthew Chong, Adrian Wong, and Sean Panganiban represented the Hippopatmos boys, while Krisha Hernandez, Francesca Tan, Jazelle Lim, and Bellina Fontarum stepped up for the girls’ category.

The Damascusties competed with Flyde Yulangco, Johann Kho, Kaden Lim, Vaughn Khu, and Adrian Liong for the boys’ category, and Safina Ng, Allie Ong, Bethany Tan, Gianna Villacorta, and Yvonne Yao in the girls’ category.

The Berea Bananas were anchored by National Master (NM) Davin Romualdez, Royce Ty, Josiah Techico, Riley Hui, Rafa Co, and Rein Panganiban for the boys’ category, and Fia Yulangco, Arianne Hernandez, Zoe Ong, Adrianna Daw, and Sophia Sy for the girls’ category.

Finally, the Nazareth Narwhals were represented by Drake Chua, Marco Ho, Praneel Sahjiwani, Joshua Chia, and Cayden Castro for the boys’ category, and Caitlyn Yu, Sadie Chen, Jia Yi Yaw, and Samantha Ongsun for the girls’ category.