JANELLE Mae Frayna made history by becoming the Philippines’s first chess woman grandmaster (WGM).
Frayna achieved the feat after she clinched the third and final WGM result with a 33-move draw with International Master (IM) Daavademberel Nomin-Erdene in a stinging 1.5-2.5 decision to 15th seed Mongolia after the ninth round of the 42nd World Chess Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Sunday night.
Frayna, 20, capped the accomplishment by scoring six points on four wins and four draws against one loss in nine games.
Frayna battled 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 Rodrigiez of Mexico.
“I’m proud to announce that WIM Janelle Mae Frayna achieved the third and last result to become the first woman grandmaster from the Philippines,” said GM Jayson Gonzales, the women’s skipper and Frayna’s personal trainer and coach at Far Eastern University.
Frayna came close to claiming the title after she led with three rounds to go in the World Juniors in India a few weeks ago and faltered in the stretch. She was not to be denied this time.
WIM Janelle Jodilyn Fronda’s defeat to IM Tubswhintugs Batchimeg on board two decided the Philippines’s doom, as Catherine Secopito and Shania Mae Mendoza halved the point with WGM Aoltan Ulzii Enkhtuul and WIM Uuganbayar Lkhamsuren on boards three and four.
The setback pushed the Filipinas from the top 20 down to the top 30 with 11 match points and will clash with 20th seed Italy in the penultimate round, aiming nothing less than a win to remain in contention for a top-10 finish.
Like Frayna, GM Eugene Torre was on course to rewriting history as he slew GM Diego Flores in the Philippines’s 2-2 draw with Argentina.
The 64-year-old Torre now has an undefeated record of eight points on seven wins and two draws, the highest points by any individual player in the 11-round tournament.
But Torre is running fifth in the battle for the gold medal on board three, which will be determined by whoever ends up with the highest performance rating, behind a stellar cast that included GM Wesley So, who is now representing the United States.
Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi leads with 2,887, followed by Hungarian GM Zoltan Almasi’s 2,871 and French GM Laurent Fressinet at No. 4 with 2,857.
“Hopefully, Wesley and I could end up as board medalists and I’m also thinking of helping the team win matches,” said Torre, whose lone board medal came in the form of a silver in the 1974 Nice Olympiad where he eventually emerged Asia’s first-ever GM.
Torre’s win plus Sadorra’s win over GM Sandro Mareco on board one helped the Filipinos turn a 0-2 disadvantage following stinging defeats by GM John Paul Gomez and IM Paulo Bersamina to GMs Federico Perez Ponsa and Alan Pichot on boards two and four, respectively.
The Filipinos, who have skidded in the top 50 with 10 match points, will play Scotland in the 10th round.