WIM Elect Frayna 7th in Asian Indoor Games (AIMAG) Classical chess; China Sweeps Gold Medal in Men and Women

by Marlon Bernardino

Woman International Master (WIM) elect Janelle Mae Frayna of the Philippines failed to sustain her momentum and finished seventh spot in the Individual Classical Chess championship event of the  4th Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games (AIMAG) 2013.

The top player of Far Eastern University was yielded to eventual champion and top seed GM Hou Yifan of China after 43 moves of English Opening of the event held at the Yonsei University International Campus in Incheon, Korea on Wednesday.

That loss put Frayna out of medal finished. The woodpushers campaigner from Bicol region, finished with 4.5 points on four wins, two loses and a draw, the same output of 6th place WGM Irine Kharisma Sukandar of Indonesia, 8th place WIM Hejazipour Mitra of Iran, 9th place WGM  Muminova Nafisa of Uzbekistan, and 10th place WIM Khademalsharieh Sarasadat of Iran.

In the same event, Frayna's compatriot WIM Catherine Perena blasted Al Jelda Fatemah of Syria  to scored 3.5 points and finished overall 23rd place.

On the other hand, Hou finished with 6.5 points in seven outings to pocket the gold medal. Hou's compatriot GM Zhao Xue outclassed Sukandar to finished with 6 points and went home the silver medal.

WGM Kulkarni Bhakti Pradip of India dismantled IM Pham Le Thao Nguyen of Vietnam to finished with 5.5 points and went home the bronze medal.

In the men's play, GM Mark Paragua split the point with GM Al Medaihki Mohd Ahmed A J of Qatar to finished with 4.5 points, overall 12th place. Another Filipino entry GM Oliver Barbosa halved the point with GM Deep Sengupta of India to finished with 4 points, overall 14th place.

China swept the gold medal in both events after GM Yu Yangyi nipped GM Tsegmed Batchuluun of Mongolia to finished with 6.5 points and adjuged overall winner in the men's play. GM Salem Abdulrahman Mohamed Saleh of UAE shocked GM Ding Liren of China to finished with 5.5 points for the silver medal. Liren remains at 5 points, but had a superior quotient against fellow five pointers that includes 4th place GM Sethuraman Panayappan Sethuram of India, 5th place GM Marat Dzhumaev of Uzbekistan and 6th place GM Rinat Jumabayev of Kazakhstan.

The country's campaign in the tournament is supported by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP), Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC).

This year’s AIMAG has brought together the Asian Indoor Games and Asian Martial Arts Games into a single major competition for the first time.