Frayna keeps title hopes alive with gutsy win

WOMAN National Master (WNM) Janelle Mae Frayna defeated Woman Fide Master (WFM) Diana Hannes of Germany in Wednesday’s eighth round to remain in the title hunt of the SDAT-RAMCO 50th World Junior and 29th Junior Girls Chess Championships in Tamil Nadu, South India.

However, Fide Master Mari Joseph “MJ” Turqueza dropped his eighth-round match against International Master (IM) Milos Roganovic of Serbia.

Delegation head and coach GM Jayson Gonzales, remains confident that Frayna can earn a title norms in the tournament.

Frayna now has 4.5 points to climb into a share of 21st to 30th spots that includes her ninth-round opponent WIM Keti Tsatsalashvili of Georgia.

Turqueza, on the other hand was stuck at 4.0 points and dropped into a tie for 52nd to 72nd places in the company of his 9th-round foe FM Tamas Petenyi of Slovakia.

Meanwhile, WGM Cori T Deysi of Peru crushed WIM Mammadova Gulnar Marfat Gizi of Azerbaijan to create a two-way tie for first with WGM Olga Girya with 7.0 points each. Girya beat WFM Klaudia Kulon of Poland.

GM Robert Hovhannishyan of Armenia and GM Girish A Koushik of India toppled their respective rivals to share the lead in the boys division with 7.0 points apiece. Hovhannishyan defeated erstwhile solo leader IM Axel Rombaldini of Italy while Koushik toppled GM Nils Grandelius of Sweden.  Correspondent MARLON BERNARDINO