Janelle Mae Frayna
| Janelle Mae Frayna | |
|---|---|
Frayna in 2016
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| Full name | Janelle Mae Frayna |
| Country | Philippines |
| Born | May 19, 1996 |
| Title | Woman International Master |
| FIDE rating | 2320 |
Janelle Mae Frayna is a Filipino chess player and is the top woman player of the Philippines.
Frayna was born on May 19, 1996 in Legazpi City, Albay to George and Sonia Frayna. She is the only daughter of her parents who works as engineers and has two brothers. She attended the Divine Word College of Legazpi where she took her elementary and high school studies and was a consistent honor student.
She entered the Far Eastern University under a scholarship which she earned on her third year in high school. She is pursuing a degree in Psychology at the university and is a candidate for cum laude honors.
Frayna started playing chess at age 11 joining the Magayon Chess Club. She started showing interest to the sport when she was still an elementary school student. During her first two years in high school, she joined chess tournaments during City Meets as well as the Palarong Bicol and the Palarong Pambansa.
At the Philippine women's national championship, Frayna became the champion in two editions. She also finished first runner up twice in other editions of the same tournament. She also became champion for multiple times at age group chess championships in ASEAN-wide competitions. After going through a six to eight months of extensive training, she enrolled at the Philippine Academy for Chess Excellence in 2010. In 2011 she won the Philippine National Juniors and became one of the youngest winners of that particular tournament.
Frayna gained the title of Woman FIDE Master in 2013 and a year later she became a Woman International Master.
The Filipino is part of the FEU Diliman Juniors Chess team. She first won over a male grandmaster and a male international grandmaster at the Battle of the Grandmasters tournament on July 2014 becoming the first woman to do so. She also became the first woman to qualify for the men's division of the said tournament by becoming one of six top players of the 2014 competition.
She was named co-recipient of the UAAP Season 77 Athlete of the Year award after leading her university's team at the UAAP Championship. along with table tennis player, Ian Lariba.
At the 42nd Chess Olympiad held in September 2016, she became eligible for the Woman Grandmaster FIDE title. After the feat, she was dubbed by the media as the Philippines' first woman grandmaster. However the title is yet to be formally confirmed by FIDE. It is to be confirmed at the First Quarter FIDE Presidential Board Meeting to be conducted from March 25 to 26, 2017.
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