THE Philippines’ Ruelle Canino got a taste of how it is to face a world champion in a stinging defeat to Woman Grandmaster (WGM) Anna Shukhman at the start of the Women’s World Cup in Batumi, Georgia on Sunday.
The 17-year-old Ms. Canino enjoyed a slight positional opening edge before her Russian foe, the reigning World and European juniors champion, unleashed a smashing Knight sacrifice that earned the latter a pawn.
The Cagayan de Oro lass, part of the national team that snared a Group B gold in last year’s Budapest Olympiad, had one last hope to equalize with a Queen move but ended up with an errant knight hop that proved catastrophic.
Ms. Canino resigned on the 37th move being a quality down and a few moves away from checkmate.
Down 0-1, Ms. Canino, whose trip is backed by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines and the Philippine Sports Commission, hopes to rebound with a win in their second and last of their two-game match on Monday night and force a two-game rapid tiebreak today. — Joey Villar
