SAN JUAN Knights continued to serve notice of its title aspirations, blasting Bulacan, 94-76, in the MPBL Datu Cup Saturday night at the Valenzuela Astrodome.

The Big 3 of US chess Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So and Hikaru Nakamura were fighting for the lead for most of the tournament and then towards the end the “rookie,” Cuban-turned-American GM Leinier Dominguez, made a late surge that almost took him to first place. Just before the last round Nakamura, Caruana and Dominguez were tied for the top spot but at the end it was only Nakamura who managed to win (vs Xiong) on demand and claim his fifth national title.

THE Philippine Sports Commission’s (PSC) online coaching seminar begins on Monday and seeks to continue with its goal of enhancing further local coaches’ competencies and skills and establishing a national standard for sports coaching in the country.

ONE of sports-entertainment celebrities that has dipped his hands in gaming and succeeded in it, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) superstar Xavier Woods said he welcomes the enormous growth that Esports has had globally in recent years but believes such ascent can still be enhanced by taking cue from WWE’s thrust as an organization.

To recap, in the Philidor Defense after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Black’s woes can be traced to his insistence on maintaining the strongpoint on e5. Why not just give it up and play solid? What’s wrong with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Be7, the Antoshin Variation? GM Larry Kaufman in “Kaufman’s New Repertoire for Black and White,” remarks that this line is a pretty reasonable choice for Black in a must-win situation, because although White is better, both sides have play, and the chances of a draw are fairly low. He then revealed that he selected this defense for Black repeatedly and successfully for the computer program Rybka in a match where it gave draw and White odds in every game to GM Joel Benjamin.

RECOGNIZING that ONE Championship is no longer the same promotion it saw when it first joined the group nearly a decade ago, Baguio-based Team Lakay is doing its best to adjust to the call of the times for its fighters to compete at a better footing.

VETERAN sports broadcaster Sev Sarmenta will share his communication expertise by holding a one-day seminar called ‘Knockout Presentations.’ The seminar aims to sharpen one’s presentation...

THE Philippine men’s Under-22 team began its AFF U22 Championship 2019 campaign in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where it hopes to make significant strides in preparation for future competitions, including the Southeast Asian Games later this year.

WRAPPING UP their commitment with the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League’s San Juan Knights, guards Mike Ayonayon and Renzo Subido said they are excited and looking forward to playing in the Philippine Basketball Association.

SCHOOL spirit in Season 93 of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is further amped up today with the holding of the cheerleading competition...

The Azeri team features an in-form Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2820 (3/4), Teimour Radjabov 2751 (3/4), Arkadij Naiditsch 2721 (3.5/5), Rauf Mamedov 2699 (4.5/5) and Eltaj Safarli 2676 (2/2). As you know both Armenia and Azerbaijan, two countries still technically at war, have a deeply-ingrained chess culture and any match between the two is always a tense affair. In Batumi it was Azerbaijan which won 2.5-1.5, and the game between the two teams’ leaders was worthy of the occasion.

THE Philippine women’s volleyball team bowed to Indonesia, 21-25, 17-25, 25-21, 21-25, to settle for a bronze medal anew in the second stop of the inaugural ASEAN Grand Prix at the Sta. Rosa Multipurpose Sports Complex in Laguna on Sunday.