International Master D. Harika clinched a Grandmaster norm in the Reykjavik Open chess tournament by drawing the ninth and final round with Latvia’s Normunds Miezis in 26 moves at Reykjavik on Wednesday.
Harika tallied six points and finished 10th in the strong field. Rated 2473, Harika performed creditably over 2600 while facing nine opponents with an average rating of 2497.
As reported on Wednesday, Abhijeet Gupta tied for the title after a quick draw with Sweden’s Hannes Stefansson. Later it turned out to be a four-way tie with Ivan Sokolov and Yuriy Kuzubov also reaching seven points after winning their last-round games. Based on superior tie-break score, Sokolov took the title and Abhijeet was placed third.
The results (involving Indians):
Reykjavik Open (ninth round): Abhijeet Gupta (7) drew with Hannes Stefansson (Swe, 7); D. Harika (6) drew with Normunds Miezis (Lat, 6); Eesha Karavade (5.5) drew with Irina Krush (USA, 5.5); Tania Sachdev (5.5) bt Eric Vaarala (Swe, 4.5); Dagur Arngrimsson (Isl, 5) drew with Sahaj Grover (4.5); Gudmundur Halldorsson (Isl, 5) bt Vishal Sareen (4).
Indians’ standings: 3. Gupta, 10. Harika, 21. Eesha, 30 Tania, 49. Grover, 67. Sareen.
Cannes Open (fifth round): Arghyadip Das (3.5) drew with Manuel Leon Hoyos (Mex, 3.5); Deep Sengupta (3.5) bt Ludwig Fantain (Fra, 2.5); Fabrizio Molina (Ita, 2) lost to Saptarshi Roy (3); V. Saravanan (2.5) drew with Herve Marcantoni (Fra, 2.5).
