BUDAPEST.  — The Philippines blanked Brazil 4-0 and achieved numerous breakthroughs in the women’s division of the 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad that came to a close Sunday at the BOK Sports Hall here.

Shania Mae Mendoza, Janelle Mae Frayna, Jan Jodilyn Fronda and Ruelle Canino pulled off victories as the Filipinas finished tied for 22nd place with 14 match points with 14 others and 24th overall after tiebreaks were applied.

That win gave the team, whose trip was bankrolled by the Philippine Sports Commission and backed by NCFP chief Butch Pichay, the gold medal in Group B, confined to the 35th to the 70th ranked countries in the 181-country field, ahead of Montenegro and Latvia.

It was the first mint for the country since the women’s squad of Sheerie Joey Lomibao, Catherine Pereña, Sherily Cua and Beverly Mendoza struck gold in Group C in the 2006 Turin edition of the Olympiad.

It was also the Filipinas’ best finish since the squad that included of Girme Fontanilla, Mila Emperado and Cristina Santos-Fidaer finished 22nd in 1988 in Thessaloniki, Greece.

“This is a milestone in Philippine chess history, a legacy that will not be forgotten for generations to come,” said national women’s coach Grandmaster Jayson Gonzales, who also thanked delegation head Atty. Ruel Canobas, women’s team manager Atty. Nikki de Vega and Far Eastern University chair Aurelio Montinolam III for their support.

The Filipinas also surpassed their 36th place finish two years ago in Chennai, India.

All five members of the team earned plus rating points with Canino, the 16-year-old wonder girl from Cagayan de Oro and FEU, raking in 102 rating points after scoring six points in eight games on board four.

Canino’s ratings will rise to 2260, which include rating points accumulated in several tournaments in Europe months before.

She missed sealing her first Woman International Master norm by just one game.

Frayna was the best scorer with eight points out of 11 with plus 27 rating points, while Mendoza, from Sta. Rosa, Laguna, had 5.5 out of 10 with 36.2 rating points while manning the top board.

Fronda, from Muntinlupa, had 6.5 out of 10 and was a plus 0.60 while Bernadette Galas three of five with plus 8.8.

The Filipinas’ effort somehow soothed the pain of the 59th place finish by the men’s team of Julio Catalino Sadorra, Daniel Quizon, Paulo Bersamina, John Paul Gomez and Jan Emmanuel Garcia and mentored by GM Eugene Torre with 12 points.

The country was actually tied for 15th spot with Sadorra running third and in medal contention in the individual board one race after the ninth round of the 11-round tilt but dropped its last two outings to Georgia 2.5-1.5 and Hungary B 3-1.

Sadorra eventually ended up 13th at board one but still had a strong performance rating of 2715 after scoring 6.5 points out of nine.

India topped both the open and women’s events and bagged the Gaprindashvili Cup, a plum for a country with the highest combined score of its men’s and women’s teams.