Chinese Grandmaster Wei Yi settled for a draw against fellow GM Tabatabaei Amin of Iran to force a three-way tie with his foe and third seed Le Quang Liem of Vietnam after nine rounds of play.
The Chinese youngster, however, emerged with the best tiebreak score to clinch the title and the $10,000 cash prize in the ninth and final round of the 17th Asian Continental Chess Championship-2nd Manny Pacquiao Cup at Tiera Hotel in Makati.
Amin placed second, while Le, who beat GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar of India in the ninth round, settled for third.
In the women’s side, Indian International Master Rout Padmini and Woman GM Gong Quianyun of Singapore ended up tied with seven points after nine rounds, but it was Padmini who won the title and the $6,000 prize due to a superior tiebreak.
The Filipinos’ campaign, meanwhile, left much to be desired, as no local player finished within the Top 10, with GM John Paul Gomez and comebacking IM Ricardo de Guzman settling for a tie for 20th to 27th places in the tournament organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines and jointly backed by the Philippine Sports Commission and Senator Manny Pacquiao.
Gomez drew with GM Puranik Abhimanyu of India, while De Guzman also halved the point with GM Zhongyi Tan of China. Both finished with five points each. They, however, ended up at 24th and 27th places, respectively, after the tiebreak.
Slightly adrift them were GM Joey Antonio, IM Oliver Dimakiling and Jerad Docena with 4.5 points, along with IM Paulo Bersamina, who bowed to GM Ghaem Maghami Ehsan of Iran.
Antonio, Dimakiling, Docena and Bersamina finished in a tie for 29th to 37th places.