Gomez win keys RP chessers draw with Greeks

DRESDEN, Germany – IM John Paul Gomez upended GM Stellos Halkias as the Philippines held highly-rated Greece to a 2-2 draw in the fourth round of the 38th World Chess Olympiad at the International Congress Center here Sunday.

Gomez, who beat Roman Krulick of Monaco in the third round, outwitted Halkias to emerge from a tight middle game battle with a clear advantage. The 22-year-old La Salle student went on to complete the victory in 55 moves of their English encounter.

“It was a tough game but I stayed focus and played well in the middle game,” said Gomez, who improved his record to two wins and two draws in the 11-round tournament.

GM Wesley So, taking over the top board from GM Bong Villamayor for the first time in four days, settled for a draw with GM Ioannis Papaoannou in only 20 moves of the Slav while GM Darwin Laylo missed the winning lines and halved the point with GM Dimitrios Mastrovasilis in 55 moves of another Slav.

GM Jayson Gonzales, however, took his second loss in three games as he bowed to GM Vasilios Kotroninias.

The draw left the Filipinos with five points on two wins, one draw and one loss under the match point style scoring system being adopted by FIDE for the first time since 1927.

The Filipinos battle the GM Ehsan Ghaemmaghami-led Iran in the fifth round. Iran blanked Nicaragua, 4-0.

While its men’s counterpart salvaged a draw, the RP women’s squad lost to No. 26 Belarus, 0.5-3.5.