Female chess player continues conquest of top men at Battle of the Grandmasters
FEU student Janelle Mae Frayna became the first woman to defeat a grandmaster at a Philippine chess event and will soon become the country’s newest woman international master
Ignacio Dee
Published 8:52 PM, Jun 22, 2014
Updated 9:07 PM, Jun 22, 2014
MANILA, Philippines – After upsetting a grandmaster Saturday evening, a 17-year-old college student defeated an international master Sunday afternoon in the fourth round of the Battle of the Grandmasters at the Philippine Sports Commission Athletes Dining Hall.
Janelle Mae Frayna trounced International Master Joel Pimentel in a rousing follow-up to her conquest of Grandmaster Richard Bitoon in the second round.
Frayna, who is majoring in psychology at Far Eastern University, has six points from two wins, tying her with the legendary Eugene Torre, 16-year-old Paulo Bersamina, Grandmaster John Paul Gomez and International Master Jan Emmanuel Garcia.
The first woman to qualify for the men’s division of this event by being among the top six semifinalists, Frayna did not disappoint her backers in the National Chess Federation of the Philippines when she trounced the veteran Bitoon in 50 moves of a Hedgehog Opening.
The Legazpi City resident Frayna was about to force checkmate on the former chess Olympian when Bitoon gave up. This is the first time a woman defeated a grandmaster in a Philippine chess event, chess sources said.
Frayna, along with Jodilyn Fronda, will soon become the country’s newest woman international master, a rung below grandmaster level, after winning her division in the recent Asean age group in Macau.
“I am so happy. I defeated three women grandmasters last year but this achievement is different since I beat a male grandmaster. I am on cloud 9,” said Frayna, 19, an incoming psychology junior at Far Eastern University, in a text message to Rappler.
…. The federation, already beset by the impending transfer of top player Wesley So to the US, decided to award several slots to chess players for the Olympiad.
Frayna and top female woodpusher Cheradee Camacho, who is back from the US, along with Fronda have been given slots for the women’s team.
Ino Sadorra, another US-based grandmaster and Oliver Barbosa, were given free berths to the men’s team. It is unsure whether Barbosa, who left for the US to play in several tournaments last month, will play for the country in Norway. – Rappler.com
Full article here.
Congrats Janelle, ang galing mo naman.
This is very strange. The FIDE deadline for submission of roster of team members for the Tromso, Norway Chess Olympiad was last June 1, 2014 and here you go the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) is still presently conducting selection tournament for the Chess Olympiad. It appears that FIDE gave the NCFP a special exemption deadline other than what was originally set which is UNFAIR to other chess federation who has to strictly follow FIDE rules. If indeed true, it amounts to double standard & discrimatory to other federations. I wonder what FIDE has to say about this special extended deadline give to the Philippines? A simple statement from FIDE will clear everything.
If we follow the line of story of the aboved article, it seems that the Philippines still DID NOT submit to FIDE its final roster of team members for the Tromso, Norway Chess Olympiad. They (NCFP) simply announced in the Philippine media that they have outrightly seeded GM’s Wesley So (#1), Catalino Saddorra (#2) and Oliver Barbosa (#3) as included in its roster of team members for the Chess Olympiad but no actual submission to FIDE. Because if NCFP had submitted to FIDE already they would not have conducted the ongoing Philippine National Tournament (Battle of the Grandmasters) – Selection Tournament for slots to the Chess Olympiad this August. Correct me if im mistaken but I’m sure FIDE does not allow partial submission rather complete/full submission or no submission at all unless special exempting privilges were given to the Philippines to submit even beyond the June 1, 2014 deadline. Very odd & strange indeed. And one more thing, the announcement of outright seedings to the Philippine National Team to the Chess Olympiad was done by NCFP ONLY after news of GM Wesley So transfer to US Chess Federation was made public thru this blog & the news “exploded” in the Philippines as reported by Philippine media. Prior to the letter of So to NCFP was made public, there was no news about outrigth seeding as the NCFP required all to undergo qualification selection and GM Catalino Saddorra even ask that he be allowed outright seeding and no longer undergo qualification as he has no financial means to go to the Philippines and made to undergo the selection process. GM Saddorra is a US based Philippine Grandmasters together with GM Wesley So, Mark Paragua and Oliver Barbosa.
It is also noteworthy to mention that it is not only GM Wesley So who is changing chess federation from Philippines to US Chess Federation (change of federation only and NOT change/seeking US citizenship as most Philippine media INCORRECTLY reported) BUT ALSO GM Oliver Barbosa (#3 in Phils) and GM Mark Paragua (#7 in Phils) who will also change federation possibly to US Chess Federation like GM Wesley So as both GM Barbosa & Paragua are presently US based too. That is only the reason why GM Oliver Barbosa had to withdraw his participation in the Dubai World Rapid & Blitz Championship due to his observance of the 2 year FIDE waiting period for change/transfer of federation without payment of € 50,000 euro transfer fee or NCFP consent to transfer as it is expected that NCFP has also no plans to release/consent the transfer of GM Oilver Barbosa & Mark Paragua as what they are doing with GM Wesley So.
Considering the MASS EXODUS of Top Philippine Grandmasters with GM’s Wesley So (#1), Oliver Barbosa (#2) and Mark Paragua (#7) and they are 101% certain NOT to compete and represent the Philippines to the Tromso, Norway Chess Olympiad this August it practically severely drained the strenght & quality of Philippine Chess Team Contingent to the Chess Olympiad. About the only one left remaining is GM Catalino Saddorra, a US base chessers who might also consider transfering federation after the chess olympiad. With only a single strong member in the chess team, the National Chess Federation of the Philippines decided to conduct the Philippine National Tournament (Battle of the Grandmasters – June 19 to 27, 2014) – a selection tournaments for slots to the Philippine team to the Chess Olympiad, to SELECT the remaing 4 or 5 members to complete its roster to be submitted to FIDE after the finsle of said tournament by weekend. Strange though since FIDE DEADLINE for submission of final & complete roster of team members of each federation to the Tromso Norway Chess Olympiad this August 2014 was LAST JUNE 1, 2014. So technically, for not submitting on time the Philippines has already lose even without playing unless FIDE gave the Philippines as special exemption deadline other than June 1, 2014 which would be UNFAIR to other chess federation who strictly followed the rule and deadline. Panget pati FIDE me ganun politics? Ano yan me bayaran at lagayan rin sa FIDE?
Congratulations and Good Luck to WFM Janelle Mae Frayna! However this article contains a little inaccuracy: According to http://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=5212499 she is not 19 but 17 years of age.
The best way for them to recover and improve is not to hold or punish their players but revamp and change the officials.
Wow indeed! She just beat another top GM and drew another one. Crazy for a 2100 female player! Good to see that they are now combining tournements for boys and girls too.
The NCFP has missed the FIDE June 1st deadline for the submission of its men and women team line-up for the Tromso Chess Olympiad this coming August. Consequently, it is now heavily criticized by all the other federations that submitted on time the names of their players in their men and women teams. It looks like the NCFP will be fielding then an illegitimate men and women team. I wonder if FIDE will ignore this violation and allow the Philippine delegation to play.
wOw! their GMs can now be easily beaten by low rated players. They are now poorly trained and ill-prepared for the Tromso Olympiad. Thats good news for others. change their titles to WFMs
The Philippines has many GM’s but of poor quality as a result of lack of high quality training, inadequate foreign exposure in strong tournaments in europe or americas were strong tournaments can be found. Favorite destinations of Philippine chessers to get GM & IM norms are inhouse tournaments held in Philippines and Southeast Asia were strength of players are just average. Perhaps due to lack of government support to hire foreign coaches, trainings & competitions abroad etc. The Philippines only have 3 GM’s above 2500, the rest are below 2500 – ill trained and no formal coaching thats why their GM’s can easily be beaten by girls. Philippines is only after of quantity and not quality of GM they produced
That’s not Frayna. That’s Hikaru Nakamura in disguise. Lol
WFM Janelle Mae Frayna scored a rating performance of 2450 in the 11-round tournament. That is sufficient for an IM norm. Congratulations!!! http://www.chess-results.com/tnr138542.aspx?lan=1