Filipinos miss titles on home soil

WOMAN International Master (WIM) Jane Jodilyn Fronda and IM Ricky de Guzman drew with their respective foes to emerge as the best-placed Filipinos in the just-concluded 17th Asian Continental Chess Championships (Second Manny Pacquiao Cup) on Tuesday at the Tiara Hotel.

Fronda, 24, fought third-seeded IM Guo Qi of China to finish with five points for 16th overall after the tiebreak in the women’s division while de Guzman, 58, failed to cash in on his twopawn edge over GM Abhimanyu Puranik of India to wind up with five points for 23rd place also after the tiebreak in the men’s side.

Woman Grandmaster Janelle Mae Frayna also ended up with five points after she drew with 13th seed WGM Nguyen Thi Thanh An of Vietnam but slipped to 18th place after the tiebreak in the event bankrolled by the Philippine Sports Commission and Sen. Manny Pacquiao and organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines.

Woman Fide Master Allaney Jia Doroy capped her impressive performance with a draw with 11th seed WIM Mobina Alinasab of Iran to finish at 19th with 4.5 points. She earned a whopping 101.6 rating points.

GM John Paul Gomez halved the point with former women’s world champion GM Tan Zhongyi of China and placed 27th.

Chinese GM Wei Yi reigned supreme in the men’s side, while Indian IM Ruot Padmini copped the women’s title.

Frayna later bounced back in the blitz event where she upset sixth seed IM Gulishkan Nakhbayeva of Kazakhstan to wind up fourth.

Two more Filipinos, WIMs Catherine Secopito and Bernadette Galas, appeared headed to ruling the side event after they zoomed to the top two after six rounds only to fade in the last three games when they scored half a point. Secopito slipped to sixth and Galas to ninth place.