by Marlon Bernardino
MANILA, Philippines – Defending champion Laguna Heroes swept Caloocan City Loadmanna Knights, 3-0, in Armageddon play last Saturday evening, July 10, 2021.

Laguna Heroes and the Caloocan City Loadmanna Knights were tied 10.5 each after seven boards, but the trio of sub-import Ukrainian GM Kiril Shevchenko, GM John Paul Gomez and FM Austin Jacob Literatus saved the day via the Armageddon penalty shoot-out (3-0) beating  sub-import Malaysian IM Jimmy Liew, Paul Sanchez and IM Barlo Nadera to win their assignment of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines dubbed as GM Wesley So Cup being held at chess.com platform.
 The Heroes took the blitz boards, 5.5-1.5 behind Shevchenko, Literatus, Gomez, Kimuel Aaron Lorenzo and Arjie Bayangat and a draw by FM Jose Efren Bagamasbad.
Caloocan staged a comeback in rapid play with an 9-5 win that forged the deadlock.
Thanks for the heroic win of WNM Arvie Lozano, FM Nelson Villanueva and Sanchez and draws by IM Jan Emmanuel Garcia, Liew and AGM Glenn Lemen.
Duplicating its solid performance, Laguna continued their winning streak at the expense of Rizal Batch Towers, 11-10, in the second match.
"I am happy because we have won the match," Dr. Fred Paez said, one of the four co-team owner of the Laguna Heroes that include Mr. David Nithyananthan of KALARO, Engr. Benjamin Dy of SDC Global Choice and Engr. Jonathan Mamaril of Oregon, USA.
The defending champion Laguna Heroes and Caloocan City Load Manna Knights tallied identical 26-7 win-loss records to share 3rd and 4th placers in the Northern division standing.
San Juan Predators bounces back with a 14-7 win over Isabela Knight Raiders to remain on top with 30-3 win-loss records.
Manila Indios Bravos, on the other hand shocked San Juan, 2-1,  in Armageddon play then routed Quezon City Simba's Tribe, 17.5-3.5.
Manila remains solo second place with 29-4 win-loss records.-Marlon Bernardino-
Photo shows sub-import Ukrainian GM Kiril Shevchenko