John Paul Gomez

Team Philippines finished in 37th place.

Gomez also was a member of the Filipino team for the 39th, 40th, 41st, 42nd and 43rd Chess Olympiads.

Gomez has been a many-time member of the Philippine Team at the Chess Olympiad.

Individually, he placed 49th while the team placed 50th in the team competitions.

Individually, Gomez placed 54th while the team ended up in 46th place.

He placed 57th in the Individual competitions while the team ended up in 58th place.

John Paul Gomez (born May 23, 1986 ) is a Filipino chess player.

At the age of 15 years old, Gomez represented the Philippines in the 40th World Junior Chess Championship held at Peristeri, Greece (2001) where he performed creditably by tying for 18th–30th places eventually finishing in 26th with a score of 7.5/13 posting 7 wins, 1 draw and 5 losses with a TPR of 2494;

Gomez was again the lone Philippine representative to the 45th World Junior Chess Championship conducted at Yerevan, Armenia where he finished with 7.0/13 ending up in a tie for 27th–38th places eventually ending up in 30th place registering 6 wins, 2 draws and 5 losses with a TPR of 2480 as against his then ELO of 2387.

While attending De La Salle, Gomez led the school's chess team to the UAAP men's chess championship for 2004–2005 season.

In October 2006, he finished the 45th World Junior Chess Championship with a score of 7.0 out of 13, which was good enough to earn him an IM norm.

He was awarded the title of International Master (IM) in 2007 and International Grandmaster (GM) in 2009.

He is a three-time Filipino national junior champion and has also won the Filipino Chess Championship.

Gomez is from Biñan, Laguna Province in the Philippines.

He began playing chess when he was three years old and began beating older players when he was five.

After becoming bored with chess, he started playing tennis, even becoming a top player in the ten-and-under age category; a fractured hand suffered while playing tennis, however, led him to switch back to chess.

Gomez graduated from De La Salle University with a degree in mechanical engineering.

Gomez won five "Most Valuable Player" awards and was named the UAAP's "Athlete of the Year" for Season 71 (2008–2009).

Gomez has won the Philippine National Junior Championship three times.

In July 2008, he won the Philippine Chess Championship; this not only qualified him for the Philippine team competing in the 38th Chess Olympiad later that year in November, but also earned him his first GM norm.

At the Olympiad, Gomez's draw with Czech GM Viktor Láznička in the 9th round was enough to earn his final GM norm and the GM title, making him just the tenth Filipino to do so.

Gomez finished the Olympiad as the top scorer for the Philippine team.

At the 38th Chess Olympiad (2008) held in Dresden, Germany when he was still an International Master (IM), he played Board 4 for the Philippines finishing as the team's top scorer with 7.5/11 on the strength of 5 wins, 5 draws and a solitary loss for a winning percentage of 68.2% with a Tournament Performance Rating (TPR) of 2585 as compared to his 2519 ELO at that time that made him the second strongest Filipino bet in the Olympiad just behind Wesley So (2610) despite being the only IM in the team.

Gomez also participated in 8 editions of the Asian Individual Chess Championship also known as the Asian Continental Championship, five years consecutively from 2009–2013 and in 2017–2019:

At the 2009 (7th) edition held in Subic Bay Freeport, Zambales, Philippines, he tied for 51st–65th place eventually finishing in 59th place with 5.0/11 in the 11-round Swiss System tournament with 3 wins, 4 draws and the same number of losses for a TPR of 2424 (2538 ELO).

At the 39th Chess Olympiad (2010) held at Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, he played Board 2 just behind So where he scored 5.0/9 posting 3 wins, 4 draws and 2 losses for a 55.6 winning percentage and a TPR of 2454 which was below his ELO at that time of 2527.

At the 2010 (8th) edition also held at Subic Bay Freeport, Zambales, Philippines, he tied for 28th–42nd place ultimately ending up in 35th place with 5.0/9 in this 9-round Swiss System competitions posting 2 wins, 6 draws and 1 loss with a TPR of 2505 almost equal to his ELO then of 2507.

At the 17th edition held in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2011, Gomez played Board 3 where he scored 6.5/9 posting 5 wins, 3 draws and a single loss for a winning percentage of 72.2% with a TPR of 2480 as compared to his 2538 ELO then.

His efforts was good enough for a bronze medal while the team ended up in 4th place.

In the 18th edition conducted at Tagaytay City, Cavite, Philippines, Gomez went undefeated ending up as the team's leading scorer with 7.5/9 where he registered 6 wins and 3 draws for an 83.3% winning percentage with a TPR of 2599 as against his ELO then of 2511 where he bagged the gold medal leading the team also to a gold-medal finish in the team competitions.

He finished his stint in this tournament with 2 medals (1 gold, 1 bronze) in individual play and 1 gold medal in team competitions.

He has already recorded 14 points in 18 games registering 11 wins, 6 draws and a solitary loss for a high 77.8% winning rate.

Gomez participated in two World Junior Chess Championships.

At the 2011 (9th) edition conducted at Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran, he finished tied for 13th–21st places finally garnering 20th place with 5.0/9 in this 9-round Swiss System tournament registering 3 wins, 4 draws and 2 losses with a TPR of 2484 as against his 2538 ELO that time.

At the 41st Chess Olympiad (2014) conducted at Tromsø, Norway, he again manned Board 2 behind GM Julio Sadorra where he posted 5.5/11 by recording 3 wins, 5 draws and 3 losses for a winning percentage of 50% and a TPR of 2466 below than his 2526 ELO at that time.

He tied Eugene Torre as the team's second best scorer although Torre scored 5.5 in only 9 games as compared to Gomez' 11 games.

At the 42nd Chess Olympiad (2016) held at Baku, Azerbaijan, he once again played Board 2 and contributed 5.0/10 registering 4 wins, 2 draws and 4 losses for another 50% winning percentage and a TPR of 2466 which was a shade below than his then 2492 ELO.

Gomez competed for the Philippines at the 17th and 18th editions of the Asian Cities Chess Championships.

Finally, at the 43rd Chess Olympiad (2018) conducted at Batumi, Georgia where he again manned Board 2 and scored 4.5/10 on the strength of 2 wins, 5 draws and 3 losses with a TPR of 2351 as against his ELO of 2464 at that time.

He eventually placed 19th in the Individual Standings while the team finished in 46th place.