FILIPINA grandmaster Janelle Mae Frayna is ready for action again in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games.
Frayna and her teammates were scheduled to travel to the province of Songkhla, where chess was supposed to be held.
But after floods on Nov. 19 killed 170 people, displaced over 10,000 and submerged the chess venue in the Phrem Music Hall of Thaksin University, Frayna and her teammates will not have to travel far.
The 29-year-old Frayna and the national squad will just have to be at the new and closer venue, the Bazaar Bangkok Hotel.
“We have a very good chance of winning medals here. Our toughest opponents are mostly from Vietnam,” said Frayna, who will be with teammates Woman International Master Shania Mae Mendoza and WIM Marie Antoinette San Diego.
With competitions happening on Dec. 10 to 19, they will be up against talented rivals mostly from Vietnam.
This time, Frayna will go for podiums in three events, the ASEAN category, the traditional Thai game Makruk and the standard 25-minute rapid game.
Frayna has won multiple medals in the games, most notably in the 2021 Vietnam SEA Games, where she secured two bronze medals in the women’s rapid and individual blitz events.
In the 2023 SEA Games, traditional chess was not part of the schedule, so Frayna competed in Ouk Chaktrong (Cambodian chess) and bagged a silver medal in the women’s doubles event with her partner, Mendoza.
Earlier this year, Frayna made history as the first Filipina to earn the championhip honors at the 31st Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival – Ladies Blitz.
Frayna dominated the competition, besting 120 participants from 24 countries, coming up with an undefeated score of eight points after securing seven wins and two draws.
