Pinoys drop Chess World Cup dreams

MANILA, Philippines — Filipino Grandmaster John Paul Gomez and International Master Paulo Bersamina came up short in their World Cup dreams and settled for a top 10 finish in the men’s division of the Eastern Asian Zonal 3.3 Chess Championships 2019 in Mongolia.

Gomez, 32, split the point with Mongolian Sugar Gan-Erdene while Bersamina, 22, downed another local bet Bayaraa Chinguun to wind up in a tie for fourth to seventh places with six points apiece.

Indonesian GM Susanto Megaranto, who trounced Mongolia’s IM Sumiya Bilguun, Gan-Erdene and Vietnamese IM Nguyen Van Huy, who smashed Mongolia’s GM Bayarsaikhan Gundavaa, ended up tied for first with seven points apiece.

Megaranto emerged with the highest tiebreak score to claim the title while Gen-Erdene claimed second and the last berth to the Chess World Cup 2019 slated from Sept. 9 to Oct. 2 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.

It was a heartbreaking result for Gomez, who was in the lead in the first five rounds before getting sidetracked by a stinging defeat to Bilguun in the sixth.