By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Reigning national women’s champion Ruelle Canino will represent the country in the Women’s World Chess Cup scheduled July 5 to July 29 in Batumi, Georgia.
The 16-year-old Canino got the lone spot allotted to the country from the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) upon the recommendation of Janelle Mae Frayna, the country’s first and only Woman Grandmaster to date.
“Let us support Ruelle in her first ever World Cup,” said Frayna, one of Canino’s mentors, on a social media post.
The Far Eastern University standout from Cagayan de Oro is scheduled to clash in the first round with Russian Anna Shukman, a 16-year-old WGM and the reigning world junior girls titlist.
In Batumi, Canino, who was part of the national team that copped a historic gold medal in Group B in the World Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary last year, is hoping to obtain a WGM norm or possibly the outright title there.
But she would have to defy great odds to pull the rug from the world’s best and brightest starting with the heavily-favored Shukman.
Meanwhile, NCFP chief executive officer GM Jayson Gonzales said Grandmaster Daniel Quizon will be the country’s bet in the men’s World Cup set Oct. 31 to Nov. 27 at a still unspecified venue in India.
