PH women pull off upset at World Chess Olympiad

MANILA, Philippines – Close to midnight Saturday, September 3, Philippine chess fans got a big high when the ladies team faced Georgia, the fourth seed in the 42nd Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijian, with one board still being fought. 

Had the match ended in a draw, it would have been enough for chess fans already let down by an impending defeat of the men’s team against Paraguay, but as Catherine Secopito labored to defeat Salome Melia, the implications of a win slowly dawned. 

Georgia was the source of the best Russian women chess players during the old USSR. The Georgian women were world champions before Xie Jun of China stopped that in the 1991 world title match in Manila. Until 1988, the USSR women’s team dominated the Olympiad before Hungary, laden with the prodigious Polgar sisters, ended their reign in Thessaloniki.

Joey Antonio, the national men’s champion who chose to skip the Olympiad, was impressed by the fearlessness of the women’s team. “Even they are losing, they fight,” said Antonio in a Facebook thread following the match with Georgia. 

After Cristy Lamiel Bernales lost, it was up to Jan Jodilyn Fronda to equalize and she did in a pawn endgame where a pawn sacrifice  and a King move gave her the tempo to win. It was, as grandmaster Parimarjian Negi described in his commentary at worldchess.com, “a beautiful pawn sacrifice.” 

Janelle Mae Frayna, faced with an attack from Nana Dzagnidze, the world’s third ranked player, turned back the onslaught and forced a draw by repetition of moves. So, it was down to Secopito and Melia. 

Antonio thought Secopito was winning handily with a passed pawn on the D file and A file, but Secopito spent a lot of her dwindling time to decide in exchanging queens and go into an ending where she had a bishop and two pawns vs Melia’s 3 pawns, one of which was on White’s third rank. “It looks like a d raw,” said Antonio. And as both players were down to last three minutes each, Melia erred. 

“I think she made a mistake, didn’t play b3, ” said Antonio. As Secopito’s time ticked away, she finally hit on the winning plan, play the bishop to the h2 square and prevent Melia’s king from attacking her only pawn. Seconds, which appeared like minutes, drifted and Melia gave up on move 58.

The Philippines did what was impossible: shock Georgia 2.5-1.5. A big role was played by captain Jayson Gonzales, who made sure their preparation would appear on their board, which Fronda acknowledged in an interview on chess.com. Gonzales had steered Frayna close to triumph in the world juniors a few weeks ago. 

Filipino fans heaved a sigh of relief and then rejoiced. “I am so proud of them.” said Sherily Cua, a former national player who is a senior law student.  “Wow! beating the fourth seed!,” said Glenda Baylon, the ex-board two now in Canada. Rachelle Pascua Crawford, the only Filipina who won a bronze in the Olympiad, sent a thumbs-up sticker as a private message. 

Lilibeth Lee-Barcenilla, who is Baku with her husband, Banjo, who plays board four for the men’s yeam said; “They never anticipated it!This women team has a bright future ahead since they are still young, dedicated and wanted to win! More exposure will make it possible to produce RP’s first woman GM!” 

The Filipinas have ascended the first stage of their chess Olympus and more tests are expected but they have made the big first step. It will be difficult for them to backslide. – Rappler.com