OZAMIZ, Misamis Occidental — Olympiad veteran Ruelle Canino flashed her fangs Tuesday after disposing of sixth-seed Woman’s International Master Bach Ngic Thuy of Vietnam in the second round of the 6th ASEAN Individual Chess Championships-Gov. Henry Oaminal Cup at the Misamis Occidental Resort and Aquamarine Park.
Canino, a 17-year Woman FIDE Master from Cagayan de Oro, sparkled in conquering the higher-rated Bach and keeping her share of the lead with five other foreign rivals with perfect scores after two rounds of this nine-round event that hands an outright WGM title to the eventual winner.
And the reigning national women’s champion hopes she ends her hun lt in this event as she faces Vietnamese WGM Hoang Thi Bao Tram, who hurdled Filipina Mhage Sebastian, next in the third round.
Also in that lead group were Russian IM Evgenija Ovod, Mongolian WFM Batpelden Buyankhishig and Vietnamese WGMs Nguyen Thi Mai Hung and Nguyen Thi Thanh An.
Ovod ripped the Philippines’ Jemaicah Mendoza, a World Youth bronze medalist; Bunyankhishig slammed WIM Nguyen Hong Anh; Mai Hung walloped Russian IM Ekaterina Smirnova; and Thanh An pummeled Joyce Rianna Rueda.
The country’s bets in the premier open section, spearheaded by GM John Paul Gomez, stayed in title contention and half a point behind the pace-setting Indian IM V S Raahul, Vietnamese GM Tran Tuan Minh and Indonesian FM Fabian Glen Mariano, who have pristine scores of two points each.
Gomez downed countryman IM Rolando Nolte to zoom into that 10-player second group with 1.5 points apiece.
It included other Filipinos in IMs Michael Concio Jr., Kim Steven Yap, Jem Garcia and Pau Beramina and Thyrone James Tabernilla.
Mongolian IM Mykhdalai Amilal, Vietnamese IM Dang Hoang Son and Indian IM Kamotra Soham were also in that bracket.