GRANDMASTER Janelle Mae Frayna turned back Allaney Jia Doroy to barge into the five-player lead group after the sixth round of the 2021 Philippine Women’s Chess Championship at the PACE building in Quezon City yesterday.
The top-seeded Frayna, 24, outwitted Doroy in the opening to gain a two-pawn advantage and leaned on her superb endgame technique to translate it to a 91-move victory in an English showdown.
The win sent the Army woman straight to the top in the company of Kylen Joy Mordido, Marie Antoinette San Diego, Shania Mae Mendoza, and Jan Jodilyn Fronda with identical four points.
It took a while for Frayna to recover her wits after her title bid was derailed by a stunning opening round setback to 13-year-old wunderkind Ruelle Canino last Saturday.
Frayna will have a chance to move up the standings and stay on course for the champion’s prize of P50,000 a berth to the Hanoi Southeast Asian Games in May next year if she hurdles Francois Magpily in the seventh round being played at press time.
Mordido, who is tipped to become the country’s next WGM, drew with San Diego in 31 moves of an English Opening while Mendoza split the point with Marian Calimbo in 68 moves of a King’s Indian Defense.
Fronda was on her way to beating Mariel Rinoa Sadey that would have catapulted her alone on top. But the 2019 national champion couldn’t convert her pawn advantage into a win, allowing Sadey to escape with a 59-move standoff in their super-sharp Sicilian encounter.
It kept Sadey at No. 6 with three points, half-a-point ahead of Canino, Doroy and Bernadette Galas with 2.5 points.
Canino outlasted Magpily in 69 moves of a Pirc Defense while Galas smashed Lexie Grace Hernandez in 53 moves of a Reti Opening.
