Chess Olympiad: Philippines gambles with player assignments

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Call it a “Philippine Gambit”.

Deviating from their usual roster for a better chance at winning, the Filipinas have gambled on fielding in their top two players Janellle Mae Frayna and Jan Jodilyn Fronda on second and third boards instead in the 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad slated to unfurl Wednesday night at the BOK Sports Hall here.

Instead of Frayna and Fronda, Shania Mae Mendoza, who usually plays in the lower board, has been designated to suit up at top board, while teenage wonder Ruelle Canino and Olympiad returnee Bernadette Galas has been assigned to the lower boards.

The Filipinas, whose trip is being funded by the Philippine Sports Commission through chair Richard Bachmann and commissioner Ed Hayco, and NCFP head Butch Pichay, were ranked 47th out of 181 participating teams nations in the women’s side and were playing 137th ranked Malawi, a small African nation who is bannered by its one and only titled player — Woman FIDE Master Linda Jambo.

“We need only 2.5 points to win the match and we feel this move will give us a stronger chance of winning,” said national women’s coach Grandmaster Jayson Gonzales.

Meanwhile, the men’s side, mentored by non-playing captain GM Eugene Torre with Atty. Roel Canobas as delegation head, will have its usual board formation consisting of GM Julio Catalino Sadorra at board one and IMs Daniel Quizon and Paulo Bersamina, GM John Paul Gomez and IM Jan Emmanuel Garcia on boards two to five, respectively.

But against Aruba, a small island from South America, the country will field in Quizon, Bersamina, Gomez and Garcia as Sadorra will come in tomorrow in time for the third round.

Meanwhile, Wesley So, born and raised a Filipino, will play second board for top seed United States of American versus Panama.

The biennial 11-round tournament, which gives two points to a match win and a point for a match draw, was actually ushered in Tuesday night at the Dr. Jeno Koltai Sports Center also in the Hungarian capital in a memorable affair that was attended by FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich as well as local officials and three of the host nation’s best chess products — the famous Polgar sisters Judith, Susan and Sofia.