Frayna emerges as first Pinay GM

MANILA, Philippines - Janelle Mae Frayna drew with IM Davaademberel Nomin-Erdene of Mongolia in their French duel in the ninth round of the Chess Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan Sunday night to become the country’s first woman Grandmaster.

Frayna, 20, has piled up six points on four victories and four draws against a loss and obtained the third and last GM result with still two rounds left in the 42nd staging of the biennial event.

The Far Eastern U ace faced three players with men’s GM titles – Georgia’s Nana Dzagnidze and India’s Dronavalli Harika – one with men’s IM title – Nomin Erdene – and two with WIMs Sabrina Latreche of Algeria and Alejandra Guerrero Rodriguez of Mexico.

Though the Phl women’s team bowed to Mongolia, 1.5-2.5, Frayna made a rare feat, which is expected to boost women’s chess back home.

“I’m proud to announce that WIM Janelle Mae Frayna achieved the third and last GM result to become the first Woman Grandmaster from the Philippines,” said GM Jayson Gonzales, the women’s team skipper and Frayna’s personal coach.

Frayna actually had a chance to clinch the last norm in the World Juniors in India last month where she even led the field but faltered in the last three rounds.

WIM Janelle Jodilyn Fronda’s bowed to IM Tubswhintugs’ Batchimeg on second board while Catherine Secopito and Shania Mae Mendoza split the point with WGM Aoltan Ulzii Enkhtuul and WIM Uuganbayar Lkhamsuren, respectively.

Meanwhile, Eugene Torre, who became Asia’s first GM at 22 in the 1974 Olympiad in Nice, France where he won a silver medal, also scored a personal milestone in the ongoing Olympiad as he downed GM Diego Flores in 42 moves of their Slav encounter to pull the Philippines to a 2-2 split with Argentina.

That kept the 64-year-old ace’s unbeaten run with Torre hiking his total to eight points on seven wins and two draws, putting him on top of the rankings according to points. He is at No. 15 in rating performance and No. 6 in percentage.

He is also the top player on board three according to points although he stood at No. 5 in rating performance, which will determine the board medalists at the end of the tournament.

Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi currently leads the way with 2887 followed by Hungarian GM Zoltan Almasi’s 2871, while Wesley So, now of the US, is in third with 2862, France’s Fressinet Laurent has 2857 and Torre totes a 2804 performance rating.

“Hopefully, Wesley and I could end up as board medalists and I’m also thinking of helping the team win matches,” Torre said.

Torre’s win plus Sadorra’s victory over GM Sandro Mareco on board one helped the Filipinos turn a 0-2 disadvantage following defeats by GM John Paul Gomez and IM Paulo Bersamina to GMs Federico Perez Ponsa and Alan Pichot, respectively, to a draw.