Pasig, Negros collide for PCAP Open Conference crown

MANILA, Philippines — Is the coast clear on Saturday for the Pasig King Pirates to claim the Open Conference championship, the final conference title available for the second season of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP)?

Or do the Negros Kingsmen — the new giant slayers of the league — have anything to say about it?

With a win tonight, Pasig can claim to be the best team in the league for this year — a dynasty in the making with their stacked and loaded line-up. 

Many dismissed them when they generated a lot of support for their team during last year’s All-Star Game when they were clearly not a top side yet. 

But the ambition of this chess club cannot be ignored any longer. 

From the third conference of last season up to today, they are on a mission to be the top side bar none, not just in skill but in team organization and professionalism. 

With the San Juan Predators now in their rearview mirror, they will tackle Negros that has yet to beat this refurbished squad. 

The Kingsmen have heard that story before — not beating Iloilo, not beating Davao. Both are now done, and done. 

And now, they have one other job to finish — the Grand Finals.

They would like to seize the day. Even if they do not, can they settle for moral victories? 

Moral victories are the realm of those trying to justify coming up short. After all, there is no guarantee you will be back in the Big Dance. Furthermore, who remembers moral victories?

The story for the rest of PCAP is one cannot simply rest on their laurels. 

You have to constantly tinker with the line-up and get better players whether you have tasted success or not; yhat astonishingly applied itself to football and basketball.

But in the wake of the success of Pasig, Negros, or even Davao that has mighty ambitions of their own, one has to constantly better their line-up. 

One that San Juan will have to think long and hard in the off-season; the same with the Iloilo Kisela Knights — the two teams that were the gold standards for professional chess in the Philippines.

At least, San Juan can salvage a measure of pride when they compete for their sixth PCAP trophy albeit for a third or fourth place one. 

The Predators will battle the Davao Chess Eagles for that honor. But it will not be smooth sailing either as Davao has had their number as well in this past year.

The battle for PCAP’s Open Conference Champions between the Pasig King Pirates and the Negros Kingsmen will be played at 7 p.m. tonight simultaneous to the battle for third place between the San Juan Predators and the Davao Chess Eagles. 

The final matches of this second PCAP season can be viewed on streaming via the league’s as well as the individual team’s Facebook pages.