The lack of competitive tournaments took its toll on the campaign of the Philippine women’s team in the recent 43rd Chess Olympiad in Batumi, Georgia.
Grandmaster Coach Jayson Gonzales made the admission in the weekly Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum on Tuesday, lamenting that when the going finally got tough for Janelle Frayna and Co., the inexperience of the team became obvious.
“Yung regularity wala sa atin, but nandun yung talent, nandun yung galing, yung tapang. But in all sports, hindi lang ganun ang kailangan natin,” said Gonzales, who graced the public sports program at the Tapa King Restaurant at Farmers Plaza in Cubao together with Frayna and Women’s International Master Shania Mae Mendoza.
“That’s why I always explain, reminding, or suggesting our officials that we should have regularity (of tournaments), yun ang talagang key doon,” he said. “If we keep on doing that siguro yung mga darating na bata rin, if they have regularity of tournaments especially strong tournaments like the Olympiad, then masasanay na tayo sa ganung klase na set-up.”
Frayna, the country’s sole Womens’ GM today, and Mendoza anchored the five-women’s PH team in the Olympiad, along with Catherine Secopito, Bernadette Galas, and Marie Antoinette San Diego.
The Filipinas caused a ripple early in the tournament following its stunning 3-1 win over seventh-ranked Spain, but unfortunately, failed to sustain the momentum and tumbled to a 67th place finish out of a record 151 entries representing 146 countries in the distaff side. It lost its final game against Australia, 3-1.
“Somehow at the last half of the tournament, medyo pumalya yung stamina natin, yung endurance natin because of lack of tournament,” said Gonzales, the former executive director of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP).
“Unlike the European countries and the other parts of the world na naglalaro, they keep on playing regularly. Tayo kasi minsan makalaro, minsan hindi,” he added in the session presented by San Miguel Corporation, Tapa King, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR).
