Krishna wins GM chess tourney

Mayank Chakraborty obtained a GM and an IM Norm while Sanket Chakravarty and Goutham Krishna garnered IM norms.

There was a six way tie for the second place with all scoring 8 points and after tie breaks they finished in the following order GM R R Laxman, IM Rahul V S , GM Aleksandrov Aleksej, IM Vian Antonio, IM Kushagra Mohan, IM Neelash Saha. Indian chess is on the rise as was evident with the Indians finishing in the top three, a far cry from the times when the overseas GMs would bag all the top honours. In fact 10 of the top 12 finishers were Indians.

The other centre of focus today was the second board encounter between GM R R Laxman of Tamil Nadu and IM Viani Antonio Dcunha of Karnataka ended in a draw. Both players were trailing one point behind the sole leader Rohith and a victory for either would have meant a tie for top place if Rohit suffered a reversal.

In other relevant results IM V S Rahul defeated IM Szpar Milosz, Sanket Chakravarty defeated top seed GM Boris Savchenko and Neelash Saha defeated Mayank Chakraborty.

Both Laxman and Viani treaded rather cautiously in a Reti Opening, exchanging pieces at periodical intervals. The resultant ending with Kings, two minor pieces and identical number of pawns had the players signing peace after 30 moves.

The winner Rohith Krishna S got trophy and Rs.3,50,000 while runner up Laxman RR got trophy and RS.2,75,000/-. The prizes were given away at the hands of AICF president Dr. Sanjay Kapoor and MCA president Dr Parinay Fuke guests of honour. Vice president Abhijit Kunte and Girish Vyas, treasurer Vilas Mhatre, joint secretary Ankush Raktade were present on the occassion.

Dr Kapoor said " Both Vidit and Raunak won over their illustrious opponents GMs Short and Svidler. India is on the way to becoming a super power. The day is not far when we will soon have a World Champion, looking at the talent now in India"