Wins boost Jayson Gonzales, Janelle Mae Frayna stock

MANILA, Philippines — Grandmaster Jayson Gonzales shocked second seed GM Jorden Van Foreest of the Netherlands in 40 moves of an English Opening to zoom to a share of second behind solo leader top seed GM Sandro Mareco of Argentina after seven rounds of the 22nd Hogeschool Zeeland chess tournament in Vlissingen, the Netherlands Thursday night.

Gonzales, 49, pounced on Van Foreest’s passive opening play and transformed it into material and positional advantage to extract the full point to hike his total to six points for a piece of second spot, behind Mareco ( 6.5 points).

WGM Janelle Mae Frayna stunned Dutch International Master Merijn Van Delft in 30 moves of another English duel to barge into the top 10 with 5.5 points.