THE Iloilo Kisela Knights’ led by Grandmaster Joey Antonio led the statistical race of the San Miguel-All Filipino Cup of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines at the end of a gruelling three-month elimination round.
Antonio, who has mostly played on the Senior Board 4 for the Kisela Knights this conference, tallied 51 wins, 14 draws and three losses for a total of 86 points.
He was able to fend off the crowd of Pasig King Pirates who occupied the second to fourth slots with hard charging Eric Labog Jr. behind by only three points at 83.
GM Mark Paragua was third with 82.5 points while lady player Sherily Cua was fourth with 79.5 points.
For much of the conference, Cua was either at first or second, exchanging the pole with Antonio. A late slide saw her fall to fourth.
Antonio’s move to the senior board gave Iloilo more flexibility. It allowed him to also slide up and down the top boards with National Master Cesar Mariano and wunderkind Karl Viktor Ochoa.
It gave Iloilo a 30-4 record (473 points), second best in PCAP behind the league-leading Pasig’s 33-1 card with 518 points.
Also in the Top 25 list were Rolly Parondo Jr. at ninth (49-5-14 and 73 points) and Ochoa at 24th (40-9-13 and 65.5 points).
If Antonio wins the Best Player of the Conference Award, he joins Caloocan’s International Masters Jem Garcia (All-Filipino) and Cris Ramayrat then with Manila (Wesley So Cup) and GM Oliver Barbosa (Open Conference) in the list.
Iloilo takes on eighth seed Cagayan de Oro in the win-or-go home quarterfinals on Wednesday