Negi goes down fighting

International Master Parimarjan Negi went down fighting against top seeded Grandmaster Vladimir Belov of Russia in the 10th and final round of the Master's section in the Hastings International Chess Congress at Hyde Park Sports Complex in Hastings, England.

Having got his maiden Grandmaster's norm after the nerve-wrecking penultimate round against GM Yuriy Kuzubov of Ukraine, the 12-year-old Negi was taken to task by the experienced Belov in the final round and the Russian eventually registered a smooth victory.

GM Valerij Neverov of Ukraine expectedly won the tournament after a quick draw against Merab Gagunashvili of Georgia. Neverov scored eight points out of a possible 10 in the event and went home richer by 2000 pounds sterling after his fine performance.

French International Master Colin Vincent, Grandmaster Sergey Irenburg of Israel and Gagunashvili finished tied second on 7.5 points apiece.

Negi finished with a tally of six points out of a possible 10 and emerged as the biggest gainer from the tournament in terms of rating points as he stands to add a whopping 45 Elo points from the event which will see him way past the 2400 mark in the next FIDE list.

The Delhi-based lad had earlier secured IM title from the tournament and is expected to play in the Parsvnath International Open chess tournament at New Delhi later this month.

Playing black against Belov, Negi did not get many chances as Belov got an advantage right after surprising choice of English opening.

Nurturing his position well in the middle game, the Russian tightened the noose in style and won an exchange. Negi resigned after 44 moves when his attempts of forcing a draw vide perpetual checks did not materialise.

Important and Indian results round 10:

Valerij Neverov (Ukr, 8) drew with Merab Gagunashvili (Geo, 7.5); Sergey Erenburg (Isr, 7.5) beat Milos Pavlovic (Scg, 7); Piotr Bobras (Pol, 7) drew with Simon Williams (Eng, 7); Stefen Kristjansson (Isl, 6) lost to Colin Vincent (Fra, 7.5); Vladimir Belov (Rus, 7) beat Parimarjan Negi (Ind, 6); Yuriy Kuzubov (Ukr, 6.5) drew with Willy Hendricks (Ned, 6.5); Richard Pert (Eng, 6) lost to Mark Hebden (Eng, 7); Watu Kobese (Rsa, 7) beat Stephen Gordon (Eng, 6); Gurpreet Pal Singh (Ind, 5.5) drew with Helgi Ziska (Fai, 5); Sahaj Grover (Ind, 4) drew with Peter Husted (Den, 4).