MILESTONE ACHIEVED

BUDAPEST, Hungary — The Philippines blanked Brazil, 4-0 and achieved so many breakthroughs in the women’s division of the 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad that just came to a close Sunday at the BOK Sports Hall here.

Shania Mae Mendoza, Janelle Mae Frayna, Jan Jodilyn Fronda and Ruelle Canino pulled off victories across all boards as the Filipinas finished tied for 22nd place with 14 match points with 14 others and 24th overall after tiebreaks were applied.

The win sealed the country the gold medal in Group B, confined to the 35th to the 70th ranked countries in the 181-country field, ahead of Montenegro and Latvia.

It was the first mint for the country since the women’s squad of Sheerie Joey Lomibao, Catherine Pereña, Sherily Cua and Beverly Mendoza struck gold in Group C in the 2006 Turin edition.

It was also the Filipinas’ best finish since the squad of Girme Fontanilla, Mila Emperado and Cristina Santos-Fidaer’s 22nd-place effort in 1988 in Thessaloniki, Greece.

“This is a milestone in Philippine chess history, a legacy that will not be forgotten for the generations to come,” said national women’s coach Grandmaster Jayson Gonzales, who also thanked delegation head Atty. Ruel Canobas, women’s team manager Atty. Nikki de Vega and Far Eastern University (FEU) chairman Aurelio Montinola III as well as the Philippine Sports Commission and National Chess Federation of the Philippines for their support.

The Filipinas also surpassed their 36th-place performance two years ago in Chennai, India.

Apart from these feats, all five players earned plus rating points with Canino, the 16-year-old wonder girl from Cagayan de Oro and FEU, raking in 102 whopping rating points after scoring six points 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 sealing 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, who hails 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.

The Filipinas’ effort somehow soothed the pain of the 59th place finish by the men’s team of Julio Catalino Sadorra, Daniel Quizon, Paulo Bersamina, John Paul Gomez and Jan Emmanuel Garcia and mentored by Eugene Torre with 12 points.

The country was actually tied for 15th spot with Sadorra running third and in medal contention in the individual board one race after the ninth round of this 11-round tilt but dropped their last two outings to Georgia, 2.5-1.5, and Hungary B, 3-1.

Sadorra eventually ended up 13th at board one but still had a strong performance rating of 2715 after scoring 6.5 points out of nine.

India topped both open and women’s events as well as the Gaprindashvili Cup, a plum for a country with the highest combined score of both its men’s and women’s teams.