By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Janelle Mae Frayna tries to boost her bid for an International Master title as she competes in the 1st Bangalore International Grandmasters Open Chess Tournament at the Sri Kanteerava Indoor Stadium in India that started Thursday night, Jan. 18 (Manila time).
Frayna, the country’s first and only Woman Grandmaster, is required to obtain two more IM results and breach the 2400 rating plateau to become a full-pledged IM.
The 26-year-old Legazpi City native has a current rating of 2197 and earned her first IM result in the 2016 FIDE World Chess Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan where she also made history by becoming the first Filipina to ever gain a WGM title
“I got my first IM norm in 2016, sobra tagal na. Aim ko starting this year is to join more tournaments and campaign in Europe,” said Frayna, who recently placed third in the Philippine National Championship in Marikina early this month that also clinched her a spot to the men’s team bound for the Olympiad in September in Budapest, Hungary.
Frayna is seeded 18th and is the highest female entrant in the 10-round tournament that drew 212 participants including 31 GMs, four WGMs and several more of titled players.
National Chess Federation of the Philippines chief executive officer and Frayna’s coach GM Jayson Gonzales is also seeing action in the event along with fellow national women’s team mainstays Jan Jodilyn Fronda and Bernadette Galas.
