CEBU CITY, Philippines — The San Juan Predators emerged as the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) Third Conference overall champions after routing the Iloilo Kisela Knights in last Saturday’s grand finals.
The Predators were merciless in beating the second conference overall champions by winning all two scheduled sets in their grand finals showdown.
The Predators scored,19-2, in the first set and went on winning the second set,11.5-9.5.
In the first set, San Juan swept the blitz round,7-0.
This was after Grand Master (GM) Oliver Barbosa, International Master (IM) Rolando Nolte, Women’s International Master (WIM) Jan Jodilyn Fronda, IM Ricardo De Guzman, FIDE Master (FM) Narquingden Reyes, Narciso Gumila, and Narquingel Reyes won their matches against Karl Viktor Ochoa, GM Rogelio Antonio Jr., WFM Cherry Ann Mejia, NM Cesar Mariano, NM Fritz Bryan Porras, NM John Michael Silvederio, and Mark Jossel Mariano respectively.
The San Juan Predators would have swept the rapid round, but GM Antonio Jr. prevented it by beating IM Nolte in board one to finish with,12-2, tally.
In the second set, San Juan finished the blitz round with, 5.5-1.5, tally by winning five matches and having one draw. In the rapid round, Iloilo managed to beat San Juan, 8-6, but that wasn’t enough in the final tally to win the title.
In the Battle For Third, the Caloocan City Loadmanna Knights defeated the Penang Blue Panthers of Malaysia,14.5-6.5.
Caloocan scored, 4.5-2.5, in the blitz round and went on winning the rapid round,10-4, to grab the third overall place.
A total of 24 teams including four Cebu-based teams, the Lapu-Lapu City Naki Warriors, Toledo City Trojans, Cordova Dagami Warriors, and the Cebu City Machers competed in the prestigious online chess tournament.
The Naki Warriors and the Trojans were both defeated by the Kisela Knights in the semifinals and quarterfinals respectively.
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