MANILA – Negros Kingsmen tasted its first defeat in the first conference of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) but was able to bounce back in their second outing to remain on top of the standings.
The Kingsmen suffered its first defeat of the season in the hands of the Camarines Soaring Eagle, 12-9. They recovered later in the day with a 16.5-4.5 triumph over Cordova Dutchess Dagami Warriors.
In the Blitz portion versus the Soaring Eagle, the Kingsmen started well via decisive wins from FIDE Master (FM) Nelson Mariano III, Arena Grand Master (AGM) Rowelyn Joy Acedo, International Master (IM) Joel Pimentel, and National Master (NM) Rolzon Roullo.
Camarines, however, proved too tough for the Kingsmen in the Rapids as Grand Master (GM) Mark Paragua and NM Ezraline Alvarez more than made up for their losses in blitz and convincingly beat Mariano and Acedo, while Ellen Asuela and Ronald Llavanes repeated over Kingsmen’s Randy Segarra and Adrian Dela Cruz.
A draw on the 5th board between Pimentel and NM Christian Daluz sealed the win for Camarines, despite the Kingsmen’s wins from Rosendo Bandal Jr. and Rolzon in the seniors and homegrown boards.
With the split result of matches on Wednesday, the Kingsmen tied with the Soaring Eagle on top of the Southern Division standings with a 10-1 win-loss record.
“We are so proud of our players, to be tied on top of the team standings in the Southern Division, it says a lot on the depth of our team from Boards 1 to 7,” said Kingsmen co-team owner Carlo Fontelo.
Just like the Kingsmen, Iloilo Kisela Knights also split their two matches for the evening as they dominated Iriga City Oragons, 16-5, before suffering an 11-10 loss to Mindoro Tamaraws.
After handily winning their opening day match, the Kisela Knights were stunned by the Elgin Tamaraws on strong performances of Mindoro’s Board 2 Sherwin Tiu, Senior IM Domingo Ramos and homegrown Ronald Berdena.
The victory and defeat of the Knights allowed them to remain at second place in the Southern Division standings with a 9-2 win-loss record./PN
