Gomez remains unbeaten in Malaysia

GRANDMASTER John Paul Gomez (ELO 2520) beat compatriot Fide Master Randy Segarra (ELO 2337) yesterday for his third straight win in the 10th IGB Dato Arthur Tan International Open Chess Championship 2013 at the Mid Valley Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Gomez earlier beat Sumant Subramaniam (ELO 2066) and FM Ronnie Lim (ELO 2299) of Malaysia to share the lead with top seed GMs Ma Qun and Xiu Deshun of China, GM Suri Vaibhav of India and IM Max Illingworth of Australia with 3.0 points.

Ma bested GM Laxman R.R of India; Deshun routed IM Oliver Dimakiling of the Philippines; Vaibhav subdued Filipino NM Roel Abelgas while Illingworth nipped Andria L D`souza of India.

In the fourth round, Ma meets Suri Vaibhav on Board 1; Deshun faces Gomez on Board 2 and Illingworth plays GM Abhijeet Gupta of India on Board 3.

Gupta split the point with GM Wang Rui (ELO 2408) of China to lead a huge group of 2.5 pointers that include GM Alexander Fominyh of Russia, GMs Wang, Lu Shanglei and Zhou Jianchao of China, Filipinos GM Darwin Laylo, FM Roderikc Nava, CM Nelson Mariano III and David Elorta, IMs Nitin S. and Ravichandran Siddharth, Pradeep Kumar R.A. of India, IM Nguyen Doc Hoa of Vietnam, IM Irwanto Sadikin and Yoseph Theolifus Taher of Indonesia and Jonathan Chuah of Malaysia. /Correspondent Marlon Bernardino