Defending champion O T Anilkumar of Kerala retained the title in the 15th Cochin University of Science and Technology International Rating Open chess tournament on better progressive score, accumulating eight points, the same as three other players, after the completion of the tenth and final round in Kochi on Wednesday.

The fourth seed, with a progressive score of 49.5, emerged winner while M Vinothkumar of Tamil Nadu, with a score of 47.5, was runner-up.

Alex Thomas and M B Muraleedharan (both from Kerala) were placed third and fourth respectively.

In the tenth round, Anilkumar forced Muraleedharan, a four-time champion, to a draw after 25 moves while Vinothkumar was held to a draw by his statemate, K Haridas, after 10 moves.

Alex Thomas defeated Sardar Amithpal Singh of Andhra Pradesh after 35 moves and Soumya Ranjan Mishra of Orissa was held to a draw by P D S Girinath of Andhra Pradesh after 28 moves.

Nine-year-old Priyadarshan of Tamil Nadu, after his good performance in the Asian championship at Kozhikode, where he won the under-10 silver medal, defeated tenth seed Joy Lazar of Kerala to finish with 7.5 points and take the eighth position.

N Sandhya (Kerala) was adjudged the best woman player.

Special awards:

Under-8 category: Amit Sukhpal (Guj)

Under-10: Stany G A (Karn)

Under-12: Shyam Nikhil (TN)

Under-14: Suba Chandran (TN)

Under-16: Kumar Dip Chakraborthy (WB)

Under-18: Rajpathak Tanmay (MAH)

Under-20: Stanley Samson (TN).

Dr N Unnikrishnan Nair, vice-chancellor, Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) distributed the prizes.

Following are the final positions: 1. O T Anilkumar (Ker), 2. M Vinothkumar (TN), 3. Alex Thomas (Ker), 4. M B Muraleedharan (Ker), 5. Soumya Ranjan Mishra (Ori), 6. U C Mohanan (ker), 7. K Haridas (TN), 8. K Priyadarshan (TN), 9. Konakanchi Ninad (Mah), 10. Ram S Krishnan (TN).

Important results (final round): O T Anilkumar (8) drew with M B Muraleedharan (8); K Haridas (7.5) drew with M Vinothkumar (8); Alex Thomas (8) bt Sardar Amithpal Singh (7); P D S Girinath (7) drew with Soumya Ranjan Mishra (7.5); Binju Oommen (7) drew with Ram S Krishnan (7); P Sreekumar (7) drew with T R Shanmugananthan (7); Joy Lazar (6.5) lost to K Priyadarshan (7.5); U S Satheesan (7) drew with K Ninad (7); U C Mohanan (7.5) bt Rahul Manohar (6.5); K M Nisam (7) bt Nikhilesh Kumar (7); P V Girish (7) bt Chinnadurai (6); K V Devadasan (6) lost to Sukhpal Singh Kalsi (7); D Prabhakaran (6.5) drew with Stanley Samson (6.5).