Docena triumphs, Fronda falters

MANILA, Philippines - Jerad Docena beat Fide Master Bjorn Moller Ochsner of Denmark but Jan Fronda faltered in the 11th round of the World Junior Chess Championships in Kocaeli, Turkey yesterday.

Docena thus improved to six points but stayed too far behind solo leader top seed GM Yu Yangyi (9.5) of China in the Open categroy.

Last year’s champion and erstwhile co-leader GM Alexander Ipatov of Turkey was held to a draw by GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan of Armenia and dropped to second with nine points.

Fronda, on the other hand, bowed to WIM Paula Andrea Rodriguez Rueda of Colombia for 6.5 points and fell behind by two points to WGM Aleksandra Goryachkina of Russia, who defeated WGM Deysi Cori of Peru to wrest the solo lead with 8.5 points.

Overnight solo leader WGM Irina Bulmaga of Romania succumbed to WGM Rout Padmini of India and slid to second with eight points in a tie with WIM Abdumalik Zhansaya of Kazakhstan, who downed WIM Sabina Brahimova of Azerbaijan.

Docena goes for another win against FM Vitaly Meribanov of Belarus while Fronda tries to bounce back against WGM Wang Jue of China in the penultimate round.