So, Gomez post hard-fought wins vs Iran in Olympiad
11/18/2008 7:29 PM

The RP Chess Team hammered a 2.5-1.5 win over Iran in a thrilling fifth-round showdown to move into the Top 20 for the first time in the 38th World Chess Olympiad at the International Congress Center in Dresden, Germany.

A report posted on SportsNews.ph said grandmaster (GM) Wesley So and international master (IM) John Paul Gomez defeated their respective opponents to secure the country’s third win out of five rounds.

The 15-year-old So notched a stunning victory over GM Elshan Moradiabadi after a marathon of 85 moves of the Slav.

The Bacoor-based chess prodigy is already the highest-rated Filipino player with an ELO of 2610.

Gomez, for his part, outplayed GM Amir Bagheri in 56 moves of the Ruy Lopez.

The 22-year-old Gomez delivered a relentless kingside attack against the black-playing Bagheri to score his third straight win against two draws in the tournament.

Gomez is also now the Filipinos’ leading scorer with four points out of a possible five.

GM Buenaventura “Bong” Villamayor split the point with GM Ehsan Ghaemmaghami, while GM Darwin Laylo lost to GM Morteza Mahjoob in 38.

“We’re doing well considering the strong opposition here. I like our position right now with still six rounds left,” said RP non-playing team captain Eugene Torre.

Overall, the Filipinos have seven points, only two points behind top seed Russia, defending champion Armenia, Ukraine, England, Azerbaijan and host Germany under the match point style scoring system being used for the first time since 1927.

as of 11/18/2008 7:59 PM

Source: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com

Posted by Picasa
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Tags: , ,