By ADRIAN STEWART CO
Negros Kingsmen made their way to the Southern Division Finals of the 2022 Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) Third Conference after beating the Iloilo Kisela Knights in the division semifinals on Saturday night, December 3.
The Kingsmen pulled off a stunner in the first leg of the two-leg Southern Division semifinals with a 13.5-7.5 victory. The Negrenses followed this up with a 12.5-8.5 beating in the second leg.
Negros opened the first leg with a 5.5-1.5 win in the blitz event behind full points by David Elorta (Board 1), Mari Joseph Turquiza (Board 2), Bernadette Galas (Board 3), Joel Pimentel (Board 5), and Ellan Asuela (Board 7), and a split by Edsel Montoya (Board 6).
However, the Kingsmen barely escaped the Kisela Knights in the rapid category, 8-6, with only Turquiza, Pimentel, Montoya, and Asuela garnering the full two points over their opponents.
The Kingsmen also struggled in the blitz event of the second leg as they were pushed to a 3.5-3.5 draw by the Kisela Knights with only Elorta, Pimentel and Montoya getting one point, while Edmundo Gatus (Board 4) settled for 0.5.
The Negrenses got the much-needed separation in the rapid event, 9-5, with Elorta, Turquiza, Pimentel, and Asuela getting the full two points and Galas garnering the split point.
According to Kingsmen co-team manager Nayk Segismar, the victory over Ilonggos was huge for the franchise as they hope to move past Southern Division top-seed Davao on Wednesday, December 7.
“This is a huge achievement for us since it was the first time that we beat Iloilo in the playoffs,” Segismar said.
“It can also be considered as upset since they were the higher seed team,” he added.
Kisela Knights head coach Hubert Canto, for his part, said that the stunning defeat was an eye-opener for the squad as they will evaluate the composition of the team before the start of the new PCAP season next year.
“As I said before, Negros has a competitive team, so this is not suprising,” Canto said.
“But this is an eye-opener for us this offseason to make some adjustments with our lineups if needed,” he added./ASC, WDJ