MANILA, Philippines - Local Water Utilities Administration-A scored back-to-back victories to seize the solo lead in the eighth round of the National Inter-Province chess team championship at the Cabagnot Training Center in Old Buswang in Aklan yesterday.
GM John Paul Gomez beat John Datu to lead LWUA-A to a 3-1 win over sister team LWUA-B in the seventh round late Wednesday then whipped Francis Jocson in LWUA-A’s 3-1 triumph over Capiz in the penultimate round.
The fifth-seeded Quezon City-based team thus hiked its total to 13 points, a full point ahead of erstwhile solo leader Rizal Province and pre-tournament favorite Tagaytay with only one round remaining.
Merben Roque and Jayson Salubre provided the other two victories for LWUA-A, winning both their matches against LWU-A and Capiz.
Roque trounced Garry Garcia of LWUA-B and Francisco Lamayo of Capiz, while Salubre downed Ilann Perez of LWUA-B and Anthony Arcangeles of Capiz.
Third seed Rizal dropped a 1.5-2.5 loss to top seed Boracay-A in the seventh round but came back to sweep Palawan, 4-0, in the eighth.
IM Oliver Barbosa settled for a draw with IM Idelfonso Datu of Boracay, but Ivan Glil Biag lost to Horizon Villanueva and Gary Legaspi bowed to Carlito La Vega.
Jose Aquino was the lone winner for Rizal when he beat Rommel Ganzon of Boracay.
Barbosa, Aquino, Biag and Arnel Pinero all won their matches against their Palawan counterparts.
Tagaytay, headed by GM Darwin Laylo and Roel Abelgas, crushed DAR-Lanao dle Sur, 3.5-.5, in the seventh round and Boracay, 2.5-1.5, in the eighth.
Boracay-A dropped into a three-way tie for fourth with Laguna and Makati with 11 points based on the scoring system, which gives two points for a win, one point for a draw and zero for a loss.
Laguna, bannered by IM Emmanuel Senador and Rodolfo Panopio, crushed Iloilo Province, 3-1, and edged Makati,2.5-1.5.
Makati, led by David Elorta and Edsel Montoya, humbled Negros, 2.5-1.5, before losing to Laguna, 1.5-2.5.
In solo seventh was LWUA-B, 3.5-.5 winner over Negros in the eighth round.
.