MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos Jaymiel Piel and Thyrone James Tabernilla pulled off ninth and final round victories on Saturday to rule their respective divisions of the Eastern Asian Youth Chess Championships in Penang, Malaysia.

Piel downed Malaysian Shen Ree Herng to top the open Under-14 division with 7.5 points ahead of another Malaysian Kavin Mohan with seven points and Mongolian Ganganbars Zev with 6.5 points.

Tabernilla, for his part, bested countryman Keith Adriane Ilar to reign supreme in the open U16 section with seven points, half a point ahead of Mongolia's Burentsegsh Aldar and China's Lin Dianqi with 6.5 points each.

The triumphs earned Tabernilla, a 16-year-old, 11th-grader from La Salle-Zobel, a FIDE Master title and an International Master norm while Piel gained an FM title.

But for Tabernilla and Piel to get that FM title, they must reach the 2100 FIDE rating plateau.

So far, both chessers have improved to above 1900 after each earning a whopping more than 100 rating points due to their exceptional efforts.

Also coming through with a podium finish was Lila Alyssa Serina, who had a bizarre final-round bye to claim third place with 6.5 points.

She actually ended up tied for second with Mongolian Dorjsuren Tselmuun but the latter took second place via win-over-the-other rule since the Filipina lost to her in the seventh round.

Malaysian Mohd Afif Ainul Mardihiah took solo first with 7.5 points. TMT

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