Pasig King Pirates look to make PCAP history

MANILA, Philippines – With the dust settled from the long elimination round phase that took almost three months to complete, the Pasig King Pirates looked supremely confident heading into the playoffs of the San Miguel-All Filipino Cup of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines. 

Why not? With a 33-1 win-loss slate, Pasig has tied the San Juan Predators for the best elimination round record. 

San Juan accomplished that during last year’s second conference, the Wesley So Cup. Pasig owns the record for the most points garnered after the elimination phase. 

The King Pirates accumulated a total of 518 win points. 

The previous high was tallied by San Juan during last year’s Open Conference when they finished with 478 points.

Pasig is the first team to breach 500 points in a conference. 

The King Pirates also have four of the Top 25 players in the conference.

Homegrown stud Eric Labog Jr. is second only to Grandmaster Joey Antonio with the best win-loss-draw slate at 52-6-8 with 83 points. 

At third spot in the standings is GM Mark Paragua, who carries a 47-14-7 record — good for 82.5 points. 

Lady player Sherily Cua is fourth in the rankings with a 53-2-13 line with 79.5 points. 

IM Cris Ramayrat, who has slid up and down the senior and homegrown boards, is at eighth spot with a 40-16-12 record and 73.5 points.

Hovering outside the Top 25 list is GM Darwin Laylo and homegrown star Kevin Arquero. 

However, all these records are meaningless unless Pasig annexes the championship. 

“Ibang usapan na itong playoffs,” noted Arquero during the recent awards ceremony at the Pasig City Hall. “Wala pa kaming napapatunayan.”

The four Top 25 players give Pasig a massive advantage in the competition because they arguably have a strong chance of taking four of the seven boards being contested. 

When the win-or-go home quarterfinals begins this Wednesday, March 30, the Pasig King Pirates will face eighth seed, Rizal Batch Towers (14-20). 

In two elimination round meetings, Pasig twice crushed the Batch Towers. The first was on January 26, where Rizal lost 17-4. During their second encounter last March 9, the King Pirates won 14-7.