Ganguly wins Parsvnath chess title

National champion Grandmaster Surya Sekhar Ganguly edged out Russian GM Mikhail Ulibin on better tie-break score to win the seventh Parsvnath International Open chess tournament in Delhi on Monday.

In the 10th and final round, overnight sole leader Ganguly settled for a quick draw with P Karthikeyan after just 15 moves to take his points tally to 8.5.

However, Ulibin defeated M S Thejkumar to go level with Ganguly. The tie was resolved by Bucholz score, in which the sum of all the 10 opponents' of Ganguly and Ulibin was compared to assess who played the tougher field and the Indian emerged triumphant by half a point.

The six-time national champion collected more than Rs 200,000 in the Rs 11.5 lakh prize-money event.

Grandmaster Petr Kostenko of Kazakhstan drew his final game against Indian GM Neelotpal Das to finish third with 8 points.

Karthikeyan and S P Sethuraman achieved GM-norms during the tournament and finished fourth and fifth respectively.

International Master Prathamesh Mokal also achieved GM-norm while Shahikant Kutwal, Prantik Roy and Arindam Mukherjee secured their IM-norms.

Shalmali Gagare emerged the best woman chess player while Altykenov Yerlan of Kazakhstan finished on top among unrated players.

Joshi G B and Arunima Kalra emerged the best boy and girl player from Delhi respectively.

Final standings: (1) GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly, (2) GM Mikhail Ulibin of Russia, (3) GM Petr Kostenko of Kazakhstan, (4) IM P Karthikeyan, (5) IM SP Sethuraman, (6) GM Yuriy Kuzubov of Ukraine, (7) GM Neelotpal Das, (8) IM RR Laxman, (9) GM Anuar Ismagambetov of Kazakhstan, (10) GM Abhijit Kunte.

Important Results of Round 10 (Indians unless stated): GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly (8.5) drew with IM P Karthikeyan  (8); GM Mihail Ulibin of Russia (8.5) bt M S Thejkumar (7.5); GM Neelotpal Das (8) drew with GM Petr Kostenko of Kazakhstan (8); IM Suvrajit Saha (7) lost to GM Yuriy Kuzubov of Ukraine (8); GM Evgeny Gleizerov of Russia (7.5) drew with GM Praveen Thipsay (7.5); GM Abhijit Kunte (7.5) drew with IM Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury (7.5); GM Saidali Iuldachev of Uzbekistan (7) lost to IM SP Sethuraman (8); IM RR Laxman (8) bt IM K Rathnakaran (7); GM Parimarjan Negi (7.5) bt IM GB Prakash (7); GM Alexander Areshchenko of Ukraine (7.5) bt IM Dinesh Kumar Sharma (6); GM Yuri Solodvnichenko of Ukraine (7.5) bt IM Boris Arkhangels of Russia (6.5); IM Himanshu Sharma (6.5) lost to GM Anuar Ismagambetov of Kazakhstan (8); FM S Nitin (7) drew with GM Safin Shukhrat of Uzbekistan (7); IM Prathamesh Mokal (7.5) bt Dibyendu Barua (6.5); Swapnil S Dhopade (7) drew with M R Lalith Babu (7).