Former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta (2543) won the 19th Commonwealth chess championship by garnering nine points from 11 rounds at Port Elizabeth in South Africa.
Grandmaster Abhijeet, along with Ukraine’s Fedorchuk Sergey (2667) and the Netherlands’ Tivikov Sergei (2654) finished on top but was declared winner as per Buchholz system.
India’s Dibyendu Barua (2431), G. Akash (2332), Soumya Swaminathan (2301) and defending champion M.R. Lalith Babu (2571) finished joint second along with four others with 8.5 points.
Playing black pieces, Gupta drew his final round against G. Akash while the tie between Fedorchuk and Tivikov ended in a draw.
South African president Jacob Zuma has lauded Indian chess player Abhijeet Gupta on his achievement.
Zuma handed a gold medal to the 23-year-old, who has won 20 medals representing India at World, Asian and Commonwealth chess championships in sub-junior, junior and senior categories.
