By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Iloilo Kisela Knights are seeking to end another game day schedule with back-to-back wins and extend their winning streak to 10 matches in the ongoing 2022 Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) third conference tournament.
Fresh off a 2-0 sweep against Laguna and San Juan, the Kisela Knights are aiming to clinch their 10th-straight victory as they take on PECA Executives and Negros today.
The Kisela Knights are currently ranked second in the Southern division standings with 298.5 points built from 18 wins and only two losses.
Despite the same record as rival squad Davao, Iloilo is currently trailing by 15 points and is the third-best team in the entire conference.
Iloilo will be carrying the momentum they got during their last victory when they edged Northern division powerhouse team San Juan in a do-or-die Armageddon, 2-1.
Karl Viktor Ochoa and GM Rogelio Antonio Jr. played one of their best games in the tournament and lifted the Kisela Knights against San Juan in the best-of-three Armageddon tiebreaker.
After a slow start, the Kisela Knights finally found their offensive groove and are yet to drop a single match in three weeks.
However, Iloilo will be facing a tough task when they meet a familiar team in Negros and one of the most resilient squads in PECA.
Negros is sitting behind the Kisela Knights in the Southern division rankings at third while PECA recently notched the ninth place after the results of their past match schedule.
If the Kisela Knights end another PCAP conference with a post-season qualification, this will be their second-straight year of regular-season success since the Wesley So Cup.
The PCAP third conference schedule will have one more elimination phase left after the scheduled games today to determine their playoff hopes.
For the November 14 schedule, the Kisela Knights will be squaring off against Manila and Cagayan in another edition of an inter-conference duel game day.
