Remaining undefeated throughout the competition, Accountancy (ACC) Griffins’ Mel Glamoura Olanda gave her cluster a back-to-back gold after triumphing against Natural Sciences and Mathematics (NSM) Falcons’ Aess Anndee Maquiling in this year’s Palarong Atenista. 

Both the top seeds in their respective brackets, ACC and NSM, played four rounds in the best-of-three finals series, with one round ending in a draw, but Olanda eventually prevailed 2-1.

Given the hectic schedule before the tournament, Olanda revealed that the Griffins Women’s and Men’s chess representatives only had one practice before the day of the competition, but they still successfully placed first and second place, respectively.

“Before the competition, I didn’t have time to practice since it was prelims week. So, I focused on my exam,” she said.

Behind her stainless run, the fourth-year Management Accounting student said that her consistent strategy to clinch the wins was playing safe in her openings.

“Since I don’t have practice, I usually open to E4 to play safe. E4 [for white] and E5 for black.”

For the battle of third, School of Engineering and Architecture Tigers’ Shyra Marie Abil secured the bronze against School of Education Sharks’ Nicole Jayme in a convincing 2-0 win.

This year’s Palarong Atenista Chess competition was held at F213 on September 15, 2024.