Twenty-two year old International Master John Paul Gomez captured the coveted grandmaster title at at the 38th World Chess Olympiad.

Gomez hails from Biñan, Laguna. He defeated the Brazilian contender to become the 10th Filipino to join the elite rank of GMs.

Gomez is the second Filipino to earn his GM title in the Olympiad after Eugene Torre, the non-playing team captain here, who pulled off the feat in the Nice Olympiad in 1974.

The late Rosendo Balinas became the country’s second GM in 1976 followed by Joey Antonio (1973), Villamayor (2000), Nelson Mariano (2004), Mark Paragua (2005), Laylo and So (2007) and Gonzales and Gomez this year.

This Philippine News entitled John Paul Gomez is RP’s Newest Chess Grandmaster and is labeled with the following Tags: chess, grandmaster, paul gomez, title, world chess olympiad and was published on Nov 25, 2008 in Philippine News, Sports