By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Iloilo Kisela Knights opened their post-lent campaign with back-to-back wins in the ongoing Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) 1st conference Tuesday schedule last April 12, 2023.
Fresh off convincing wins during their four-match stint during the past two weeks, the Kisela Knights continued its board mastery and swept the Arriba Iriga City-Camarines, 11-10, and the Tacloban Vikings, 13-8.
The Kisela Knights were immediately put through the grinder in their clash against Iriga-Camarines when the tough team dragged them to 14 exciting board matches.
Iloilo got the upper hand after the blitz category when they took a 4-3 slim lead courtesy of a clutch win from NM Fritz Bryan Porras in the sixth playing board.
It is in the rapid category where tensions got high as both squads weren’t willing to fold when the first five boards figured in a draw.
The hero of the first category, NM Porras, replicated his magic in the second-to-the-last board of the game after nipping Recarte Tuason.
However, the opposition pulled off a huge win in the last board that equalized the rapid category at 7-7 but Iloilo’s one-point lead in the blitz was enough to secure them the hard-earned win.
It wasn’t the same scenario against Tacloban as the Kisela Knights were able to dictate the tempo of the matches from start to finish.
Iloilo started strong after clinching an early 6-1 lead in the blitz category courtesy of NM Rolly Parondo Jr., Lloyd Lanciola, Horizon Villanueva, Mark Jossel Mariano, and Fiona Guirhem.
Despite the fightback from Tacloban in the last seven playing boards when they tied things up at 7-all, Iloilo’s lead built in the blitz once again became the deciding factor for them to be hailed as the winners.
With the 2-0 sweep, the Kisela Knights boosted their score to 267.5 points and are the current no. 4 team in the Southern division behind Negros, Davao, and Toledo.
