By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Janelle Mae Frayna and Ruelle Canino fought to a 29-move draw of a Slav Defense to stay in the top 2 midway through the Philippine National Women’s Chess Championship in Malolos, Bulacan on Saturday, Feb. 7.
The result kept Frayna at No. 1 with six points and Canino at No. 2 half a point behind after eight rounds in the 15-round tournament hosted by Mayor Christian Natividad and the Philippine Sports Commission.
The pair also stayed on course to claiming two of the three tickets for September’s World Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
Jan Jodilyn Fronda, Bernadette Galas and Heart Padilla all drew their matches to also keep their Olympiad chances alive with five points apiece.
Fronda and Galas split the point in 30 moves of a Slav duel while Padilla halved the point with Queen Pamplona in 40 moves of a London System.
Cherry Ann Mejia dismantled Vic Derotas’ Gruenfeld Defense in 30 moves to breathe life to her flickering Olympiad bid with 4.5 points, the same score of Mhage Sebastian, who drew with Allaney Jia Doroy in 38 moves of another Gruenfeld.
