CHESS Olympiad-bound Janelle Mae Frayna and Ruelle Canino made a good account of themselves in the just concluded XXV Open Internacional de Sants-Ciudad de Barcelona in Spain.
Frayna, the country’s first and only woman grandmaster so far, finished with an unbeaten record of 6.5 points in 10 rounds while Canino, 16, ended up with six points that earned them not just rating points but also confidence as they compete in the Budapest Olympiad set Sept. 10 to 22.
Frayna had three wins, including a shock victory over GM Gabor Papp of Hungary in the third round, and seven draws to make a huge 52-point rating gain and improve to 2268 from 2162.
Canino earned a whopping 160.8 rating points that saw her rising to 2164.8 from 1908 before flying to Europe.
“The real star in this tournament is 16-year-old WFM (Woman FIDE Master) Ruelle Canino.
She almost achieved her first WIM (Woman International Master) norm,” Frayna said of Canino.
“With this current form and performance, soon enough, she can reach 2300 before the year ends, or who knows, maybe even after the Olympiad,” she added.
Frayna and Canino, whose trip is backed by the Philippine Sports Commission and National Chess Federation of the Philippines, is expected to return to the country day before leaving for Budapest next week.
The two will team up with Jan Jodilyn Fronda, Shania Mae Mendoza and Bernadette Galas with GM Jayson Gonzales as their coach.
GMs Inno Sadorra and John Paul Gomez, GM-candidate Daniel Quizon and IMs Jem Garcia and Paolo Bersamina will banner the men’s squad with GM Eugene Torre as their coach.
