JANELLE Mae Frayna stunned Dutch International Master Koen Leenhouts in 44 moves of an English Opening to seize a share of the lead after five rounds of the 21st Hogeschool Zeeland Open 2017 in Vlissingenm, Netherlands Tuesday night.
The 21-year-old Frayna went on attack mode as early as the opening when the Philippines’ first and only Woman Grandmaster engaged Leenhouts into a tactical piece exchanges before emerging with a queen and a bishop against the latter’s pair of rooks and central passed pawn.
It left Leenhouts, however, with an exposed king that Frayna capitalized on as she won the former’s rook for her bishop in the endgame to extract the full point.
Frayna thus zoomed to the top with 4.5 points, alongside six others, including Russian GM Landa Konstantin whom the Filipina will play as black in the sixth round at press time.
Also at the helm were Venezuelan GM Eduard Iturrizaga Bonelli, Dutch GMs Benjamin Bok, Jorden Van Foreest and Roeland Pruijjsers, and Indian IM R Praggnanandhaa.
Interestingly, GM Jayson Gonzales, Frayna’s coach and trainer, was half a point behind with four points.
Frayna also defeated Bas Roelen, Gert Van Rij, Nico Swins and drew with IM Lucas Van Foreest.
Meanwhile, GM Darwin Laylo finished second behind Indonesian FIDE Master Rudin Hamdani in the FIDE International Chess Tournament Jaksa Agung Cup in Indonesia.
Laylo, who beat GM Susanto Megaranto in the last round, finished with nine points in 11 rounds, half a point behind Hamdani.
This was Frayna’s fourth tournament when she left the country to embark on an ambitious European campaign where the former Far Eastern U standout is hoping to gain enough rating points to barge into the world’s women’s top 10 and emerge the country’s first and only female GM.
Frayna is coming off a solid 13th place finish in the Women’s International Open in Erfurt, Germany just a few days back.
Frayna’s European campaign is being bankrolled by Phl Sports Commission chair William “Butch” Ramirez with backing from the National Chess Federation of the Phl, FEU’s Aurelio Montinola, The Philippine STAR’s Miguel Belmonte and Edward Go, Senate President Koko Pimentel and Bobby Ang.
Meanwhile, Armenian grandmaster Levon Aronian pounced on Filipino GM Wesley So’s poor form to post a 32-move upset last Tuesday in the 5th Sinquefield Cup 2017 Grand Chess Tour in Saint Louis, Missouri.
Aronian’s second win against a draw and three losses came a day after the tournament took a rest day.
Analysts said Aronian won in style after he employed the Queen’s Gambit Declined.
So, playing black, was not at his best in this game, and Aronian, playing white, had a slight advantage.
The 34-year-old Aronian gained the upperhand when So first committed an error after allowing his opponent to mobilize his queen to the middle and gobble up his central pawn in exchange for a side pawn.
So was unable to hold his position as soon as Aronian’s rooks joined the fray and pressured his king after capturing his kingside pawns.
With the win, Aronian moved to a share of second spot (3.5 points) with world no. 1 GM Magnus Carlsen.
GM Maxine Vachier Lagrave held steady at the top spot with four points.
That’s after Lagrave drew with Fabiano Caruana in 30 moves of a Sicilian Najdorf.
This could be So’s worst showing in a tournament, after he dropped to the bottom of the standings with two points.
He suffered his first loss in a long time after he bowed to Carlsen in 29 moves of Scotch Defense in the fourth round.