Frayna, Galas share early lead in PHL National Women’s Chess Championship

WOMAN Grandmaster (WGM) Janelle Mae Frayna played true to form as she hurdled her first two assignments to zoom to the early share of the lead with fellow Olympiad veteran Bernadette Galas in the Philippine National Women’s Chess Championship in Malolos, Bulacan on Tuesday.

Displaying magnificent endgame technique, the enlisted Army personnel from Bicol outlasted Apple Rubin in 57 moves of a King’s Indian duel and Vic Derotas in 57 of an English encounter to stay perfect after two rounds of this 10-day meet that hands three slots to the World Chess Olympiad this September in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

The National Chess Federation of the Philippines will get to nominate who will fill in the remaining two berths to the Olympiad-bound squad.

But, of course, Ms. Frayna would want to make it to the team outright that would ensure her a seventh appearance in the biennial event where she hopes to eclipse, if not replicate, the country’s Category B gold medal it snared in Budapest, Hungary two years ago.

Joining Ms. Frayna at the helm was Ms. Galas, a Woman International Master (WIM) who posted her second win in a row at the expense of Kate Ordizo in 44 moves of a French clash.

WIM Jan Jodilyn Fronda, another Olympiad fixture, and Cherry Ann Mejia were half a point off the pace with 1.5 points each with the former hacking out a 40-move dismantling of Mhage Sebastian’s brittle Sicilian Defense and the latter holding Woman FIDE Master Shania Mae Mendoza to a 25-move standoff of a Bishop’s Opening.

Ms. Fronda’s snappy second round win came a day after conjuring a miraculous escape draw against former national champion Ruelle Canino in a duel where the former was completely losing with her pair of galloping knights against the latter’s marching rooks.

Shaken by that shocking collapse, Ms. Canino succumbed to unheralded Bonjoure Suyamin in 79 moves of yet another Sicilian showdown in possibly the biggest upset of the tournament thus far. — Joey Villar