Czechs stop RP chessers; Gomez GM

DRESDEN, Germany – John Paul Gomez became the country’s newest grandmaster as the three-time national junior champion drew his ninth round match with GM Viktor Laznicka of the Czech Republic to clinch the GM title with a high Olympiad performance rating of 2606.

The Filipinos, however, took a 1.5-2.5 beating from the Czechs, further dampening the RP bets’ chances of improving the team’s joint 44th place finish in the Chess Olympiad in Turin two years ago.

GMs Wesley So and Darwin Laylo also drew their matches but GM Bong Villamayor continued to flounder and took his fourth loss as RP further slid to joint 64th with nine points.

Gomez, 22, played cautiously against Laznicka, forcing an early exchange of pawns and minor pieces at the center to simplify the position. He earned the draw in 30 moves of the Queen’s Gambit Declined. He has six points on four wins, four draws and one loss.

It was enough to clinch Gomez the coveted title, becoming the country’s 10th GM after Eugene Torre, Rosendo Balinas, Joey Antonio, Nelson Mariano, Mark Paragua, Villamayor, Laylo, So and Jayson Gonzales.

So settled for a draw via repetition of moves with GM Zbynek Hracek in 23 moves of the Sicilian Alapin while Laylo halved the point with GM Jiri Stocek in 51 moves of Slav for the Filipinos’ third draw.