MANILA, Philippines, August 8 ------ Janelle Mae Frayna pounced on the time-troubled Laura Unuk’s endgame blunder as she led the Philippines to a shock 2.5-1.5 win over a heavily favored Slovenia in the eighth round Saturday night and back into contention in the 44th World Chess Olympiad in Chennai, India.
Staring at a potential draw despite being a pawn down, the country’s first Woman Grandmaster pressed on and found a big break with the Slovenian succumbing to time pressure and blundering away an easy split. And it sealed the giant-sized triumph for the Filipinas that propelled them to joint 17th spot with nine others with identical 10 match points.
Jan Jodilyn Fronda also provided a lift by stunning fellow Woman International Master Zala Urh on board two while WGM-candidate Kylen Joy Mordido battled WIM Teja Vidic to a standoff on board four. WIM Marie Antoinette San Diego tried to salvage a draw from a losing position but came up short in the end versus WIM Lara Janzelj on board three.
In the men’s side, GM Banjo Barcenilla fell short in his bid to salvage a draw and lost to GM Nikolaos Theodorou on board two as the Filipinos suffered a heartbreaking 2.5-1.5 defeat to the fancied Greeks. GMs Mark Paragua and John Paul Gomez and IM Paulo Bersamina all split their matches on boards one, three and four, respectively. The stinging result sent the country down into a 22-country logjam at No. 35 with 10 points. They were playing the higher-rated Georgians at press time.
Source: philstar.com