Iloilo Kisela Knights settle for 1-1 split in PCAP game day

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

The Iloilo Kisela Knights had their second 1-1 split outing in the ongoing 2022 Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) tournament.

Iloilo showed the way against the Toledo City Trojans, 15-6, while bowing down in a nail-biter against the Surigao Fianchetto Checkmates, 11.5-9.5.

It was an unusual start for the Kisela Knights as Toledo was able to take the early lead in the first seven playing boards, 3-4, the category in which Iloilo would usually dominate during their past games.

However, all of a sudden, the Iloilo offense snowballed the entire Toledo squad and raked in six out of the last seven playing boards to take full control of the pace and clinch the huge lead.

Iloilo opened up the rapid category with four straight wins courtesy of NM Cesar Mariano, Karl Viktor Ochoa, WFM Cherry Ann Mejia, and GM Joey Antonio Jr.

Meanwhile, against Surigao, the Kisela Knights had a tough time dealing against their consistent offense and failed to take the lead in the clutch stretch of the last seven playing boards.

Iloilo would take the first seven playing boards, 4.5-2.5, but the Fianchetto Checkmates steam-rolled in the rapid category and edged Iloilo with a score of 9-5.

Despite the loss, the Kisela Knights are still the no.1 team in the Southern division with 407.5 points and are the second-seeded team in the overall standings behind Pasig of the Northern division with 439 points.