Filipino Woman FIDE Master Ruelle Canino strengthened her title bid after defeating Indonesian Woman International Master Laysa Latifah in the sixth round of the 6th ASEAN Individual Chess Championships – Gov. Henry Oaminal Cup held Friday in Ozamiz City.
The 17-year-old national champion and Olympiad veteran outplayed Latifah in 36 moves of a Sicilian Defense.
Meanwhile, the country’s first Woman Grandmaster, Janelle Mae Frayna, settled for a draw with Vietnamese WGM Hoang Thi Bao Tram after 26 moves of a Reti Opening.
Both Canino and Frayna are tied for second place with 4.5 points each, along with Hoang, Vietnamese WGM Nguyen Thi Mai Hung, and Russian WIM Ekaterina Smirnova.
Russian IM Evgenija Ovod remains on top after splitting the point with Nguyen Thi Mai in 30 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Declined.
In the Open division, Filipino IMs Pau Bersamina and Christian Gian Karlo Arca drew their match in 18 moves of a Catalan Opening to share third place with four points each.
IM Munkhdalai Amilal of Mongolia and IM VS Raahul of India defeated local bets IM Jem Garcia and Kim Steven Yap, respectively, to stay in the lead.
The winners in both divisions will receive an outright Grandmaster title.