Grandmasters Jayson Gonzales (left) and Eugene Torre, the country’s chess icon, bookend the women’s team as its members—( from 2nd left) Shania Mae Mendoza, Janelle Mae Frayna, Ruelle Canino, Bernadette Galas and Jan Jodilyn Fronda— flaunt their gold medals. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
BUDAPEST—For those keeping count, here are the achievements of the Philippine women’s team to the 45th Fide (International Chess Federation) Chess Olympiad:
• The team finished tied for 22nd place with 14 match points.
• When tiebreaks were applied, the final ranking of the women was 24th.
• The squad finished with the gold in Group B of competitions, an in-tournament competition featuring squads seeded 35th to 70th.
• It was the first gold for the country in an Olympiad since the 2006 Turin edition, when the women’s squad ruled the lower Group C.
No doubt, Shania Mae Mendoza, Janelle Mae Frayna, Jan Jodilyn Fronda, Ruelle Canino and Bernadette Galas deserve a rousing ovation for helping the country make its mark in the world’s biggest chess tournament.
“This is a milestone in Philippine chess history, a legacy that will not be forgotten for the generations to come,” said the national women’s coach Grandmaster Jayson Gonzales.
Mendoza, Frayna, Fronda and Canino all scored victories on Sunday at BOK Sports Hall here as the women routed Brazil, 4-0, in their final stint at the Olympiad.
The Group B gold provided a winning moment for the Philippines, whose men’s squad unfortunately tumbled to 59th place, bettering the triumph of the 2006 squad in Turin, which was composed of Sheerie Joey Lomibao, Catherine Pereña, Sherily Cua and Beverly Mendoza.
“We weren’t expecting the gold,” Frayna said. “So many things needed to happen in the last round for that to happen, and they did happen.”
The team, supported here by the Philippine Sports Commission, may have fallen short of matching the finish of the squad that featured Girme Fontanilla, Mila Emperado and Cristina Santos-Fidaer, which finished 22nd in 1988 in Thessaloniki, Greece.
It did, however, gain a measure of respect after all players finished with plus rating points.
Canino, the 16-year-old wonder from Cagayan de Oro, collected 102 rating points after scoring six in eight games at board four.
Canino will rise to 2260, which will include rating points she accumulated in several tournaments in Europe months before. She barely missed her first Woman International Master norm by just one game.
Frayna was the best scorer with eight points out of 11 with plus 27 rating points, while Mendoza, from Sta. Rosa, Laguna, had 5.5 out of 10 with 36.2 rating points while manning the top board.
Fronda, who is from Muntinlupa, had 6.5 out of 10 and was a plus 0.60 while Bernadette Galas three of five with plus 8.8.