Iloilo notches dominant back-to-back win in PCAP Day 12

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

The Iloilo Kisela Knights finally clinched their first back-to-back winning night in three days in the 2021 Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) San Miguel Corporation-Ayala Land Premier Association Cup playoffs.

Iloilo pulled off one of the most crushing victories in PCAP playoffs history as they demolished the Sunrays, 20.5-0.5.

Meanwhile, the Kisela Knights’ momentum didn’t stop there and handed their South division rival Negros Kingsmen a loss, 12-9, to cap off their PCAP Day 12 sweep.

The Sunrays just didn’t stand a chance against the more-experienced Iloilo squad as they got outplayed in both the Rapid and the Blitz category.

Sunrays’ only point came when Iloilo’s NM Giovanni Mejia ended its blitz match against Jian Carlo Rivera in a draw.

After that, it was all Kisela Knights as they dominated the game with 19 straight points including a 7-0 run in the last playing boards.

After the convincing win against the Sunrays, Iloilo found themselves in a tightly-contested showdown against Negros.

Iloilo only led by a point after the blitz category and survived a resilient Kingsmen run in the last seven playing boards off clutch performances from GM Rogelio Antonio Jr. and Fritz Bryan Porras.

With the sweep, the Kisela Knights are now the no.1 team in the Southern division in points, with 175.5, followed by the Paralympic team with 168.