Pasig-Caloocan, San Juan-Manila banner PCAP Saturday

MANILA, Philippines — “Magkakasubukan agad” is the right way to describe the Saturday, January 29 matches of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines’ SMC-All-Filipino Cup.

Northern Division heavyweight and title contenders Pasig King Pirates take on the Caloocan LoadManna Knights while the San Juan Predators mix it up with the Manila Indios Bravos in the first set of matches of the Saturday doubleheader.

Pasig is atop the north with a 2-0 slate and a 29.5 points lead ahead of second-running San Juan with 27.0 points. 

Manila and Caloocan both tote a 1-1 slate with the Indios Bravos occupying sixth spot with 21.5 points. Caloocan is right behind them with the same number of points.

Pasig has been reinforced by the addition of GM Mark Paragua and IM Cris Ramayrat who were acquired from Camarines and Caloocan respectively.

Paragua has collected five of the six points from his matches. Ramayrat was initially taken off his senior board in his first match to play in the homegrown board against Isabela where the younger Lordwin Espiritu claimed 2.5 points from the three available.

Against Cagayan, Ramayrat returned to board four where he took two of three points against the Kings’ Ricardo Martin.

The King Pirates’ veterans GM Darwin Laylo and Eric Labog Jr. have won all four of their matches.

Caloocan on the other hand has seen its top-rated players in IM Paulo Bersamina and IM Jem Garcia struggle out of the gates. Only homegrown player Paul Sanchez has been consistently putting points on the board. 

If they want to make headway against the King Pirates, they will need all hands on deck to score points.

In the other key match, San Juan which has had Manila’s number dating back to the first year. Although the Indios Bravos have added to their line-up for this second PCAP season and are on paper, a much better team, the jury is still out on them with regards to online chess and well, consistency.

There are two ways to look at the Indios Bravos who have drawn both their rapid chess assignments while winning only one blitz set but that was against Mindoro which has struggled. 

San Juan is good at both blitz and rapid chess with the latter their strongest suit.

Both Pasig and San Juan would like to put some distance from its pursuers while the latter would love nothing more than to knock down their top-seeded rivals down a peg that would no doubt give them massive confidence.

In other key matches for PCAP Saturday, the Toledo Trojans will continue to be tested as they face in succession the Negros Kingsmen and the Iloilo Kisela Knights. Toledo has been seeded to compete for an upper tier slot in the PCAP South but they have lost both their assignments thus far – 12-9 to Camarines, and 11.5-9.5 to Cagayan de Oro. The Trojans with IM Rico Mascarinas in harness would love to stop the early bleeding.

Davao looks to get back on the winning track as they match wits with Cebu and Zamboanga.

The matches of the SMC-All-Filipino Cup can be viewed on the Facebook pages of PCAP and the various teams.