TOP seeds Laguna Heroes and Iloilo Kinsela Knights played true to form in Saturday’s semifinals to march with confidence in the division championships of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) All-Filipino Cup.
The Heroes, powered by Grandmasters (GM) Rogelio Barcenilla Jr. and John Paul Gomez, survived the stubborn Manila Indios Bravos—losing the first set, 9-12 , but bouncing back in the second, 13-8, to send the mnatchup to an tiebreaker.
The North division top seeds Heroes rode their momentum for a 3-0 win in the tiebreak over the Indios of GM Julio Sadorra and International Master (IM) Cris Ramayrat Jr. Fide Master (FM) Austin Literatus provided cushion for the Heroes after defeating fellow FM Deniel Causo to seal the victory.
Laguna will face the San Juan Predators, labored before ousting the Caloocan Loadmanna Knights in their own semifinal duel.
The Knights, on the other hand, cemented their grip of the Southern division but not without digging deep against the Toledo Trojans. Iloilo, led by GM Joey Antonio Jr., had to squeeze out a 2-1 in the tiebreaker to advance to the finals.
Iloilo takes on the Camarines Soaring Eagles, who dispatched the Negros Kingsmen in straight sets, in Saturday’s other semifinals.
The division finals are scheduled starting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
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