Equipped with sharpness and skills, the School of Engineering and Architecture (SEA) Tigers, Accountancy (ACC) Griffins, and Computer Studies (CS) Chameleons bested their competitors in the 2022 Palarong Atenista men’s and women’s chess and scrabble competitions. 

Remaining undefeated until the end, SEA Tiger Blanche Ellyz Bongato and CS Chameleon Chris Maynard Ampon finished firmly with a 6-0 standing in the chess competition, making them top of the scoreboard lists.

Bongato, a Civil Engineering freshman, shared that it was great starting her college life with a bit of fun through chess. 

While Ampon, who notably won in Palaro 2021, detailed that boredom made him want to compete.

“I just thought it’s gonna be a fun and challenging event, plus there may be cash prizes in the end (cross fingers),” he said.

Both champions did not find any opponent intimidating, as Bongato was overwhelmed with excitement before she played, while Ampon only thought of doing his best all the time.

When asked what his strategy was, first runner-up SEA Tiger Gerald Camus said that playing and reviewing every game with patience, discipline, and motivation is the key to winning a game.

ACC Griffins placed second, followed by NSMxSOE Lions in the women’s chess, while Social Science (SS) Dragons representative landed second in the men’s division.

On the other hand, SEA Tigers’ Ella Mae Villacorte and ACC Griffins’ Andrei Lubuguin exhibited vast vocabulary knowledge and finished the Scrabble tournament undefeated, scoring 5-0.

Winning from last year’s Palaro, Villcorte told Atenews that it somehow brought pressure that she needed to win the championship again.

“I quickly settled it with the thought that I should just enjoy the game since it’s my last year playing and that no matter what the results were, I gave my best and savored the experience,” she said.

Villacorte further expressed gratitude as she was given the opportunity to participate in the Palarong Atenista 2022 and represent the SEA cluster again.

Meanwhile, the ACC champion commended the online setup for Scrabble as it allowed the players to take risks and experiment with new words and combinations while giving them room to make errors.

However, Lubuguin shared that he only had three days to practice with colleague Regine Cabel and his friends, taking notes and honing a strategy.

“It took a lot of dedication and lost hours of sleep to get better, and I completely owe my victory to those who helped me,” he added.

For Scrabble men’s, the SEA bet settled first runner-up, which CS representative followed as second place. Meanwhile, ACC Griffins placed first runner-up, followed by the SS Dragons in the Scrabble women’s category.

The Chess and Scrabble tournaments were streamed live via Discord last July 29 and August 6.