Blue Eagles are Overall Champions of 2024 PAYA Chess Tournament

Consisting of players from the Grade School, Junior High School, and Senior High School, the Ateneo de Manila Chess Team won the championship titles for both Juniors and Midgets divisions and emerged as the Overall Champion of the 2024 Philippine Athletic Youth Association (PAYA) Chess Tournament. The competition was held on 2 March 2024 at La Salle Greenhills in Mandaluyong City.

The Juniors Chess Team is composed of Ateneo Senior High School (ASHS) players Liam Batnag (12-Solinas), Brix Magugat (12-Walpole), Aaron Pilien (12-Walpole) and Luis Gutierrez (11-Torres), and Ateneo Junior High School (AJHS) players Yash Cayabyab (9- Mangin) and Pio Caro (8-Chabanel).

Meanwhile, the winning Midgets team is composed of AJHS players Marc Fua (7-Ashley), Arjay Co (7-Andlauer), Enzo Hernandez (7-Balmain), and Nyle Tapdasan (7-Baldinucci), and Ateneo Grade School (AGS) players Thad Manuel (5-Dumagat) and Chio Lainez (5-Subanon).

The Blue Eagles dominated their individual boards, winning seven gold medals, two silvers and one bronze. In the Juniors division, Luis Gutierrez, Brix Magugat and Aaron Pilien won gold medals for Boards 2, 4 and 5, respectively, while Liam Batnag won bronze for Board 3. In the Midgets division, Arjay Co (Board 2), Enzo Hernandez (Board 3), Thad Manuel (Board 4) and Chio Lainez (Board 6) all won gold medals for their respective boards, while Marc Fua (Board 1) and Nyle Tapdasan (Board 5) won silver medals.

The Blue Eagles bested the Midgets teams from Xavier University, La Salle Greenhills, De La Salle Zobel and Lourdes School, QC, while the Juniors team bested those same schools plus Colegio San Agustin.

The Ateneo Chess Team was coached by Ildefonso “Ilde” Datu and Woman National Master (WNM) Joann Datu.