Draw stalls John Paul Gomez World Cup bid

MANILA, Philippines — Grandmaster John Paul Gomez’s World Cup bid suffered a big blow as he settled for a draw with untitled Mongolian Khuyagtsogt Itgelt in the seventh round of the Eastern Asia Chess Championships FIDE Zone 3.3 Open in Mongolia Saturday night.

After storming to the lead after five rounds, the 32-year-old Gomez fell off the leaderboard with a sixth round loss to fourth seed Mongolian International Master Sumiya Bilguun. He was hoping to regain the lead but failed to hurdle the lower-ranked local bet.

The Olympiad veteran thus slipped to joint seventh with Itgelt, Bilguun and another local bet FIDE Master Ganzorig Amartuuvshin with 4.5 points apiece.