Bernadette Galas misses crucial move, halves point with Indian GM

MANILA, Philippines — Woman International Master Bernadette Galas missed a crucial move that could’ve netted her another big win over a GM rival, settling for a draw against Mary Ann Gomes of India in the third round of the Asian Continental Chess Championships in Xingtai, China Sunday.

Galas, 22, gave up a pawn to expose Gomes’ un-castled king but failed to sustain her attack after missing a Queen move on the central square. That enabled the three-time Indian champion to simplify things up by forcing a series of exchanges that led to a draw that came on the heels of Galas’ shock 61-move reversal over another Indian GM Ghate Swati anchored on a splendid positional touch and superb endgame technique.

The draw kept the Filipina bet at joint 16th with 1.5 points although she hopes to gain in the ranking with a victory over Chinese WIM Gu Tianlu in the fourth round being played at press time.

WIM Kylen Joy Mordido, seeking her third and final GM norm, downed WIM Wang Doudou of China to join Galas at 16th.

Woman FIDE Master Shania Mae Mendoza and WIM Antoinette Marie San Diego, however, bowed to second seed Bathkuyag Munguntuul of Mongolia and seventh pick IM Pham Le Thao Nguyen of Vietnam, respectively, after drawing their first two matches.

WGM Janelle Mae Frayna, meanwhile, drew with untitled Chinese Yan Tianqi and improved to one point.

In men’s play, IM Jan Emmanuel Garcia turned back WIM Song Yuxin of China to hike his total to 1.5 points.