Iloilo Kisela Knights end Cordova Dutchess Dagami Warriors’ Wesley So Cup run
CEBU CITY, Philippines — After a stellar run in the elimination round, the Cordova Dutchess Dagami Warriors ended their campaign with a loss against the Iloilo Kisela Knights in the south division finals of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) Wesley So Cup Conference on Saturday, July 31.
Cordova, the top seed in the south division lost their two-scheduled matches against the third seed Iloilo Kisela Knights, 8-13, 5.5-15.5, with the latter advancing to the grand finals.
In the inaugural conference last March, the Kisela Knights also eliminated the Dagami Warriors in the first round of the playoffs. Iloilo also played in the inaugural conference’s south division but lost to the Camarines Soaring Eagles.
With their victory on Saturday, the Kisela Knights will face the San Juan Predators in the grand finals slated on August 4, Wednesday. The Predators defeated the inaugural overall champions, the Laguna Heroes,12-9,13.5-7.5, in the north division finals.
Iloilo won the first match by winning both the blitz and rapid categories against Cordova last Saturday. They scored five wins against Cordova’s two in the blitz category and went on scoring, 8-6, against the latter in the rapid category.
The Ilonggo woodpushers repeated their dominating performance in the second round. They edged Cordova,4.5-2.5, in the blitz category, and went on beating the latter in the rapid category,11-3.
The Kisela Knights is comprised of their Armenian import, Grand Master (GM) Hovhannes Gabuzyan along with Women’s FIDE Master (WFM) Cherry Ann Mejia, National Master (NM) Cesar Mariano, NM John Michael Silvederio, Dennis Bernas, Fritz Bryan Porras, and GM Rogelio Antonio Jr.
The Dagami Warriors, meanwhile was manned by their Israeli GM import, Nitzan Steinberg along with NM Merben Roque, Women’s International Master (WIM) Bernadette Galas, Mario Mangubat, Allan Pason, Bryle Arellano, and Michael Pagaran.
The Dagami Warriors was one of the four Cebu-based professional chess teams that vied in the biggest and grandest online chess tournament in the country.
The other three teams from Cebu were the Toledo City Trojans, Lapu-Lapu City Naki Warriors, and the Cebu City Machers who were eliminated earlier. The Trojans lost to the Kisela Knights in the first round of the south division playoffs while Cebu City and Lapu-Lapu City didn’t qualify for the playoffs.
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