A thrilling finish produced a five-way tie for the title before top seed Alexander Areshchenko emerged first among equals pipping National champion Parimarjan Negi in the tie-break count in the ninth Parsvnath International Open chess tournament at the Ludlow Castle Sports Complex here on Sunday.
Areschenko, Negi, Yuriy Kuzubov, Markus Ragger and Ni Hua tied for the top spot with nine points from 11 rounds and received Rs. 1.51 lakh each in this annual event that offered Rs. 13.50 lakh as prize money.
On the top board, as expected, Ukrainians Areshchenko and Kuzubov drew in just 18 moves to reach an unsurpassable tally of nine points. Later, among the engaging battles that followed, Negi ended the eight-game winning run of C.R.G. Krishna in 41 moves.
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Holding a formidable position, Abhijeet Gupta overlooked a threat and paid the penalty against second-seeded Chinese Ni Hua in 50 moves after fourth-seeded Austrian Markus Ragger beat Iceland's Hannes Stefansson in 33 moves.
When the dust settled following a round of fierce battles, the top six seeds filled the first six spots. This was also the first time the 17-year-old Negi had tied for the title in any International Open held in the country.
The caravan, headed by Areshchenko but without Negi and Luca Lenic, now travels to Chennai for the Chennai International Open beginning on January 18.
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The results (Indians unless stated):
11th round: Yuriy Kuzubov (Ukr, 9) drew with Alexander Areshchenko (Ukr, 9); Abhijeet Gupta (8) lost to Ni Hua (Chn, 9); Hannes Stefansson (Isl, 8) lost to Markus Ragger (Aut, 9); Mikhailo Oleksienko (Ukr, 8.5) drew with Luca Lenic (Slo, 8.5); C.R.G. Krishna (8) lost to Parimarjan Negi (9); Henrik Danielsen (Isl, 8.5) drew with Evgeny Postny (Isr, 8.5); Konstantin Chernyshov (Rus, 8) drew with P. Karthikeyan (8); Tamir Nabaty (Isr, 8.5) bt R. Arun Karthik (7.5); N. Surendran (7.5) lost to Ziaur Rahman (Ban, 8.5); Zeng Chongsheng (Chn, 8.5) bt S. Kidambi (7.5); Marat Dzhumaev (Uzb, 7.5) drew with P. Shyam Nikhil (8); Martyn Kravtsiv (Rus, 8) bt B.T. Murali Krishna (7); B.S. Shivananda (7) lost to Yaroslav Zherebukh (Ukr, 8); Alon Greenfeld (Isr, 8) bt Ankit Rajpara (7); Varugeese Koshy (7.5) drew with S. Arun Prasad (7.5).
Final standings (top-12): 1-5 Areshchenko, Negi, Kuzubov, Ragger, Hua (Rs. 1,51, 000 each); 6-12 Lenic, Oleksienko, Danielsen, Postny, Nabaty, Zeng, and Rahman (Rs. 22,500 each).