Gomez top scorer of team Philippines

NATIONAL champion John Paul Gomez cemented his position as ninth Filipino Grandmaster after spearheading team Philippines to beat Tunisia, 3.5-0.5 by demolishing Anis Meddeb in the 10th and penultimate round of 38th World Chess Olympiad yesterday at the International Congress Center in Dresden Germany.
GMs Wesley So (2610) and Jayson Gonzales (2469) beat Kamel Njili (2350) and Mehdi Bouaziz (2203) while GM Bong Villamayor (2468) settled a draw with GM Slim Belkhodja (2476) in top board encounter as team Philippines raise their total output to 11 points going to the last round event using match point scoring.
Non-playing team captain First Asia’s Grandmaster Eugene Torre is aiming to surpass the country’s 44th place finish in the 2006 Turin edition beating last round opponent no. 31 seed Argentina.
Gomez, the country’s top scorer with seven points, five wins, four draws and a loss in 10 games of play.
They share 47th to 63rd place with 11 points while defending champion Armenia remain on top by beating Serbia 3-1 with 17 points along second seed Ukraine who beat erstwhile leader Israel 2.5-1.5.
In the distaff side, the Filipinas lost to host country Germany 1-3.

BY: MARLON BERNARDINO