Marlon Mortel pulled the rug from under the top-seeded grandmasters to win the Dubai Chess and Culture Club October Rapid Chess Tournament, which concluded Saturday night with more than 130 participants from 17 countries.
The fifth-seeded Filipino secured the title following a fighting draw with second-seeded Cuban Grandmaster (GM) Walter Rodriguez Arencibia in the final round to hike his total output to 6.5 points.
The draw was still enough for Arencibia to clinch the runner-up spot with six points, edging out five others who had the same score on tiebreaks.
Top-seed GM Viktor Moskalenko of Spain finished third also with six points after outplaying Emirati junior standout International Master Ibrahim Sultan in the final round.
The Philippines’ Erwin Dimarucut and Jobannie Tabada took the fourth and fifth spots. The top five placers received prizes from the organisers.