The lack of competitive tournaments took its toll on the campaign of the Philippine women’s team in the recentd in Batumi, Georgia.
Grandmaster Coach Jayson Gonzales made the admission in the weekly Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum on Tuesday, lamenting that when the going finally got tough for Janelle Frayna and Co., the inexperience of the team became obvious.
“‘Yung regularity wala sa atin, but nandu’n ‘yung talent, nandu’n ‘yung galing at tapang. But in all sports, hindi lang ganu’n ang kailangan natin,” said Gonzales, who graced the public sports program at the Tapa King Restaurant at Farmers Plaza in Cubao together with Frayna and Women’s International Master Shania Mae Mendoza.
“That’s why I always explain, reminding, or suggesting to our officials that we should have regularity (of tournaments), ‘yun ang talagang key doon,” he said. “If we keep on doing that siguro ‘yung mga darating na bata rin, if they have regularity of tournaments especially strong tournaments like the Olympiad, then masasanay na tayo sa ganu’ng klase na set-up.”
Frayna, the country’s sole Women’s GM today, and Mendoza anchored the five-women’s PH team in the Olympiad, along with Catherine Secopito, Bernadette Galas, and Marie Antoinette San Diego.
The Filipinas caused a ripple early in the tournament following its stunning 3-1 win over seventh-ranked Spain, but unfortunately, failed to sustain the momentum and tumbled to a 67th place finish out of a record 151 entries representing 146 countries in the distaff side. It lost its final game against Australia, 3-1.
“Somehow at the last half of the tournament, medyo pumalya ‘yung stamina and endurance natin because of lack of tournaments,” said Gonzales, the former executive director of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines.
“Unlike the European countries and the other parts of the world na naglalaro, they keep on playing regularly. Tayo kasi minsan makalaro, minsan hindi,” he added in the session presented by San Miguel Corporation, Tapa King, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation.
Frayna, a graduate of psychology at Far Eastern University, pointed out the discrepancies of games played between her and an opponent in the Olympiad, who had a total of 1,700 games in her data list compared to the 350 games the Filipina had.
“Ako ‘yung pinakamaraming laro sa ating mga female players. So comparison-wise sa isang veteran female chess player na naglalaro sa ibang bansa, masyadong malayo ‘yung gap. So we have to close that gap,” she said.
“And how we could do that? We need to play, and not just play, but we need to perform better.”
Frayna and Mendoza, 20, and taking up Education major in sports management also at FEU, are set to leave for Thailand next week to compete in the Pattaya Open.
Mendoza has one semester left in college, but took a leave for a moment as she’s concentrating on getting her WGM norm.
“Hopefully by next year,” said Mendoza as she’s eyeing to follow in the footsteps of Frayna.