By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Women Grandmaster Janelle Mae Frayna survived the upset axe from unheralded Queen Pamplona to stay at the helm even as Ruelle Canino outlasted Allaney Jia Doroy to seize solo second after seven rounds of the Philippine National Women’s Chess Championship in Malolos, Bulacan Thursday night, Feb. 6.
Frayna eked out a 39-move draw of a Center-Counter duel to hang on to the top spot with 5.5 points almost halfway through the 15-round meet backed by host city Mayor Christian Natividad and the Philippine Sport
But unlike the round before, the Army woman from Bicol saw her full-point lead sliced to half after Canino grinded out a 59-move win over Doroy in a Queen’s Gambit encounter to hike her total to five points.
The 18-year-old lass from Cagayan de Oro has woken up after a nearly disastrous start by scoring 4.5 points in the last five rounds that catapulted her back in contention for one of the three slots to this September’s World Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
Bunched at No. 3 with 4.5 points are Heart Padilla, Jan Jodilyn Fronda and Bernadette Galas.
Padilla downed Maria Lavandero in 31 moves of a Sicilian; Fronda split the point with Shania Mae Mendoza in 36 moves of a Queen’s Pawn game; and Galas halved the point with Marie Antoinette San Diego in 31 moves of yet another Sicilian.
