The Philippines’ Alekhine Nouri shocked No. 1 seed International Master S Aswath of India in the seventh and last round to snare the silver medal in the Asian Juniors Chess Championships at the Citrus Hotel in Waskaduwa, Sri Lanka.
The 19-year-old FIDE Master actually ended up tied at the top with Indonesian International Master Nayaka Budhidharma, who smashed Malaysian Genivan Genkeswaran, with 6.5 points apiece.
But Budhidharma had the better tiebreaker and sealed the gold while Nouri, a two-time national juniors champion and University Athletic Association of the Philippines blitz Most Valuable Player for University of Santo Tomas, settled for the silver.
The silver wasn’t that bad at all as it was his second medal after capturing the gold in the rapid division the day before.
Nouri will have a chance for another medal as he was competing in the premier standard event.
After two rounds of the nine-round meet, Nouri, who is being supported by the Philippine Sports Commission through commissioner Ed Hayco, was with 42 others at the helm following an opening-round triumph over Sri Lankan Yeshan Perera.