New-breed of King

Pansacula retains crown, brings championship in Civil dep’t

By Aries Jade Refugio

Roniel Pansacula of Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering (BSCE) department had

his breakout moment in the panic time after outmaneuvering Kim Kenneth Santos of
Mechanical Engineering to completely seize the gold medal in the chess tournament finals of
College of Engineering’s (COE) celebration of the Men’s month at the Science Engineering
and Laboratory Building (SELB) AVR, Dec. 1.

Pansacula got an opportunity to promote his pawn to king in crucial time, making
Santos fall apart in end game.

With 15 seconds left on Pansacula’s time, using his promoted queen and rook, few
moves after he checkmated his foe with a beautiful combination move.

“After po nung bunutan namin para sa bracket, nakita ko po magkahiwalay kami

kaya expect ko na po kami magtatapat sa finals,” he said on facing Santos, his teammate last
State Colleges and Universities Athletic Association (SCUAA).

Santos tried to stop Pansacula on promoting his pawn, with his 15 seconds time
advantage against Pansacula.

However, Pansacula escaped from Santos’ trap and managed to break his passed-
pawn out.

Santos had nothing to do with the king and rook combo as he thoroughly fell down
to the hands of Pansacula with a virtous checkmate.

“Masaya po since last year na po niya ngayon di ko na po ulit siya makakasama sa

scuaa next year. Enjoy po sobra dahil may pa tournament po na nangyare kasi po wala pa
pong university wide eh,” Pansacula said on post-game interview.

Pansacula also won the championship in chess tournament of the University Wide
Sports fest last year in men’s category.

In addition, both players have previously earned bronze medals as members of the
President Ramon Magsaysay State University Chess Team in the SCUAA III.

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