MANILA – Iloilo Kisela Knights failed to defend its 2022 Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) Wesley So Cup title. It bowed to Pasig Pirates in the finals on Saturday night.
The Kisela Knights fell short on its back-to-back championship bid and suffered a 2-1 loss to the Pirates in the Armageddon with only import Hovhannes Gabuzyan scoring a win over Mark Paragua.
Iloilo’s Karl Victor Ochoa and Pasig’s Kevin Arquero actually settled for a draw but the point was still counted for Pasig, while Iloilo’s Rogelio Antonio Jr. suffered a defeat to Pasig’s Eric Labog Jr.
Prior to that, the Kisela Knights bowed to the Pirates in the first leg of the two-leg championship, 8.5-12.5, but the Ilonggos bounced back in the second leg, 15.5-5.5, to force the sudden death game.
“It was a tightly-contested game but sadly we fell short,” Kisela Knights head coach Hubert Canto said. “It was really breaks of the game, especially in the Armaggedon where only our import scored a win.”
“We would like to congratulate Pasig for a well-fought championship series. We will learn from our mistakes here as we vowed to get even better in the next conference,” added the Ilonggo mentor.
Negros Kingsmen, on the other hand, salvaged a third place finish in the mid-season conference after beating San Juan Predators, 14.5-6.5, to record its best finish in the PCAP.
The Kingsmen and the Predators settled for a 3.5-3.5 draw in the blitz event with only Tran Tuan Minh (Board 2), Ted Ian Montoyo (Board 6) and Joel Pimentel (Board 7) scoring wins, while Bernadette Galas (Board 3) settled for a split.
The Negrenses locked in the victory in the rapid event, 11-3, courtesy of two points each by David Elorta (Board 1), Minh, Montoyo (Board 5) and Pimentel and one point apiece by Galas, Edmundo Gatus (Board 4) and Ellan Asuela (Board 6).
“This is our best finish here in the PCAP so far and this is something to build on for us for the coming conference,” said Kingsmen co-team manager Nayk Segismar. “We just have to learn from some of our miscues here.”/PN
