IM John Paul Gomez wins the Philippines chess championship

by EKCC President

The National Chess Federation of the Philippines concluded its National Championship Finals for Men and Women, 18 player all play all and 12 player all play all respectively, following 3 months of eliminations involving thousands of players.

In the Men Final, IM John Paul Gomez, a three time National Junior Champion was the convincing winner with an unbeaten 13/17, half a point point clear of top seeded GM Wesley So with 12.5/17. The Closet Grandmaster reports that Gomez has also earned himself a GM norm.
GM Bong Villamayor finished third with 11.5/17, yet another of many fine results for him in recent months. Tied for 3rd and making the selection for the last two places for the Chess Olympiad team in Dresden a nightmare were GMs Jayson Gonzales, Laylo Darwin and Mark Paragua, all with 10/17.

Long time No 1. Catherine Perena was won the Womes Final with 8/11. Shercila Cua and unrated Daisey Rivera were half a point back on 7.5/11 while young Chardine Cheradee Camacho was fourth on 7/11.

In 5th place, one point behind were Christy Bernales and Sherily Cua with 6/11 and would likely be in the running for the final Olympiad berth.

EKCC Current News

"Philippines captures bronze medal in youth chess"

By EKCC President
First Posted 02:37 PM 09/07/2008

FINAL STANDINGS:

28.5 points – India, Russia2
7.0 - Philippines
24.5 - Azerbaijan
24.0 — Armenia, Georgia,
23.0 – Turkey-A
22.0 – Turkey-B
21.0 – Slovakia, Turkey-C, Greece, Turkey-Mersi

The fourth-ranked Philippine junior chess squad trounced 20th-ranked Isek Aquamatch, 3-1, in Sunday’s 10th and final round to capture the bronze medal with 27.0 points at the conclusion of the World Youth Under-16 Chess Olympiad at the Mersin Great Municipality Sport Hotel in Mersin, Turkey.

National Master (NM) Haridas Pascua (Elo 2171) and John Alcon Datu (Elo 2138) scored full-point wins after defeating Benan Kazdagli (Elo 1754) and Tevfikcan Karanfil (Elo 1653) on boards 2 and 3, respectively.

Grandmaster (GM) Wesley So (Elo 2577), currently the world’s youngest GM at 14 years old, and Jan Emmanuel Garcia (Elo 2232) settled for draws against Nasir Ekin Zeytinoglu (Elo 1883) and Esat Baglan (unrated) on boards 1 and 4, respectively.

GM So of Bacoor, Cavite, is the best performer on Board 1 winning the prestigious gold medal with a total of 9.0 points on eight wins and two draws after 10 games of play.
Meanwhile, 2nd-ranked India topped the under-16 Olympiad and went home with the over-all championship trophy after accumulating a higher tie break score against top-seeded Russia.
Both countries tote similar 28.5 points after India crushed 9th-ranked England, 3.5-0.5, and Russia edged 3rd-ranked Azerbaijan, 2.5-1.5 in the final round.

In solo fourth place was Azerbaijan with 24.5 points, while Armenia and Georgia shared fifth and sixth spots with 24.0 points. Turkey-A and Turkey-B were in solo seventh and eight places with 23.0 and 22.0 points respectively while Slovakia, Turkey-C, Greece and Turkey-Mersi followed with 21.0 points.