Woman Grandmaster Janelle Mae Frayna and International Master John Marvin Miciano downed India’s FIDE Master Aniruddha Deshpande and Om Manish Kadam, respectively, to barge into the top 10 after five rounds of the 44th Vila De Sitges in Spain Wednesday night.
The wins catapulted Frayna, 22, and Miciano, 17, into a 10-player group at No. 10 with 3.5 points, or just a full point behind top seed GM Gadir Guseinov of Azerbaijan.
Guseinov kept the solo lead after drawing with Russian GM Sergey Volkov with 4.5 points.
Frayna was tackling Spain’s FM Vicenc Esplugas Esteve while Miciano was battling India’s Singhania Vatsal in the sixth round at press time.
Both are hoping to further close in on Guseinov, who is a favorite to win a third straight title after topping the Barbera del Valles and Sant Marti tournaments.
It was a much-needed win for Frayna, whose trip here is being backed by the Philippine Sports Commission and The Philippine STAR president and chief executive officer Miguel Belmonte.
She started with three straight draws before winning her last two matches.
After a strong start, GM Jayson Gonzales, Frayna’s and Miciano’s coach, absorbed his first defeat in this nine-round tournament at the hands of India’s Anand Saurabh.
Interestingly, Saurabh also dealt Miciano’s only loss in the third round.
