San Juan deals Iloilo 2nd Wesley Cup loss

MANILA, Philippines — If anyone wants to take the Wesley So Cup, they will have to pry it loose from the cold and dead fingers of either the Iloilo Kisela Knights or the San Juan Predators.

In a battle royale or in the eyes of some, a championship preview, the Predators squeaked past the Kisela Knights, 11-10, Wednesday night.

In a surprise move, San Juan moved senior player Ricky de Guzman to Board 1 where he faced Iloilo’s Armenian Grandmaster, Hovhannes Gabuzyan.

De Guzman took blitz play from the Armenian, but Iloilo took huge wins on Board 2 as well as the homegrown slots to take blitz, 4-3.

In rapid chess, with the cat out of the bag, Gabuzyan dealt with de Guzman. But IM Rolando Nolte redeemed himself on Board 2 to take down Iloilo’s Karl Viktor Ochoa to even it up.

With Arden Reyes and Jan Jodilyn Fronda taking wins over WFM Cherry Ann Meija and NM Cesar Mariano, it came down to Board 4 where Iloilo’s GM Joey Antonio was winning over San Juan’s Ukrainian-Spanish GM Victor Moskalenko.

A rook sacrifice backfired on Antonio, which gave Moskalenko the opening to seize back the game as San Juan took rapid chess, 8-6, for an 11-10 win. It was San Juan’s fifth win in nine match-ups against Iloilo. They are the only squad with a winning record against the southern division powerhouse. 
 
Coupled with a 19-2 win over Pagadian, San Juan took the day’s double header. 

Earlier, Iloilo looked to rout Laguna when they took a 6.5-0.5 lead after blitz play. However, the Heroes came alive in rapid for a stunning 10-4 win to send the game into Armageddon, 10.5-all. 

In extra boards, Gabuzyan, Ochoa and Antonio blanked GM Rogelio Barcenilla Jr., WIM Ummi Fisabilillah, and Richie Jocson to take a 3-0 win.

San Juan’s two wins allowed them to match Caloocan’s 18-5 record (the LoadManna Knights lost both matches to Davao and Zamboanga), but because the latter’s has accrued 313.5 won-points to the former’s 308.5, they remain in second spot in the northern division of PCAP.

Iloilo still leads the southern division with a 21-2 record with Davao breathing down their necks with a 19-4 slate.

When PCAP’s Wesley So Cup continues this Saturday, July 2, teams will resume their final round of intra-division competition.