In the lead from start to finish, Ehsan Ghaem Maghami topped a three-way tie to emerge as the champion in the 8th Parsvnath International Open chess tournament at the Modern School hall here on Friday.
Maghami, along with Russia’s Dmitry Kryakvin and Kazakhstan’s Pavel Kotsur finished at nine points in the 11-round competition. After the tie-break scores were taken, the players finished in that order and received Rs. 2,00,000 each with Ghaem taking the winner’s trophy.
“I did not get a good position today so I agreed to a quick draw. I am obviously very happy to win the title but I must say that I owe a lot to young Indian boy S. L. Narayanan who agreed to play the first round with me even after he was awarded a walkover point when I arrived late. I truly appreciate his sportsman spirit and wish him well,” said the gracious champion.
Maghami, who went into the final round in joint lead with Slovenia’s Luka Lenic, took a risk by agreeing to a 14-move draw with Bangladesh GM Ziaur Rahman. This result left Luka working for a possible victory with black pieces against Kryakvin to become the outright winner.
However, Luca played defensively and sometimes, too passively for his own good. Kryakvin, sensing the pressure Luca was facing, launched a strong attack and forced his rival to trade a bishop for a queenside pawn. Thereafter, Kryakvin took his time to drive the game into a favourable endgame and won in 55 moves. “I don’t remember playing so badly in the last two or three years,” was how a distraught Luca chose to put it.
Meanwhile, Kotsur also took his tally to nine points following a 26-move dismissal of Uzbek Marat Dzhumaev.
In the eventual analysis, the creamy layer of the field almost lived up to the pre-tournament billing with most of the leading seeds finishing in the top-10 bracket.
From India’s point of view, the performances were as anticipated. International Master Deep Sengupta was the best finisher at the sixth spot with 8.5 points. He, along with seven others, received Rs. 31, 625 each.
Unfortunately, not a single norm was made for the first time in eight editions of this prestigious competition. The caravan now travels to Chennai for the Chennai Open beginning on January 25.
The results (Indians unless stated):
11th round: Dmitry Kryakvin (Rus, 9) bt Luka Lenic (Slo, 8.5); Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (Iri, 9) drew with Ziaur Rahman (Ban, 8.5); Marat Dzhumaev (Uzb, 8) lost to Pavel Kotsur (Kaz, 9); Deep Sengupta (8.5) drew with Martyn Kravtsiv (Ukr, 8.5); Richard Bitoon (Phi, 7.5) lost to Le Quang Liem (Vie, 8.5); Himanshu Sharma (8) drew with S. Arun Prasad (8); Alexander Zubarev (Ukr, 8.5) bt Nikolay Tolstikh (Rus, 7.5); Andrey Gutov (Rus, 7.5) lost to Rinat Jumabayev (8.5); Saidali Iuldachev (Uzb, 8.5) bt Arghyadip Das (7.5). Justin Sarkar (USA, 7.5) drew with Maxim Turov (Rus, 7.5); R. R. Laxman (8) bt Saptarshi Roy (7); Vishnu Prasanna (7) lost to Deepan Chakkravarthy (8); P. D. S. Girinath (7.5) drew with Pravin Thipsay (7.5); Nafisa Muminova (Uzb, 8) bt Sahaj Grover (7); Ravi Hegde (7.5) drew with Mukulas Manik (Svk, 7.5); Dimakiling Oliver (Phi, 7) lost to B. T. Murali Krishanan (8); M. S. Thejkumar (8) bt Akash Thakur (7); Shreyans K. Shah (7) lost to P. Konguvel (8); Pratik Patil (7) lost to P. Karthikeyan (8).
Final standings: 1-3.Maghami, Kryakvin, Kotsur (Rs. 2,00,000 each); 4-11. Lenic, Rahman, Sengupta, Kravtsiv, Liem, Zubarav, Iuldachev and Jumabayev (Rs. 31,625 each).
