The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Nisipeanu emerges champion

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 13, 2004

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Sport - Chess

Nisipeanu emerges champion

By P. K. Ajith Kumar

PUNE, SEPT. 12. It took Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu less than five minutes to win the biggest tournament of his career.

The Romanian played so well over the last eight rounds in the $10,000 Category Super Grandmaster tourney that all he needed was a draw in the final round against local lad Abhijit Kunte, which he got in just nine moves at Le Royale Residency Club here on Sunday. His nearest competitor, Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan, would tie for the top prize on points if he won his game.

"But he would pip me only if some other games ended in certain ways, which I didn't think would happen," the 28-year-old Nispeanu told The Hindu, even as Kasimdzhanov looked determined to take full points off Emil Sutovsky. "Yes, there probably was a risk in taking the short draw today, but I wasn't in a mood to play a long game so early in the morning."

Kasimdzhanov did win, in fine fashion too, but could only finish second when the Koya System was applied after he tied with Nisipeanu on six points. Pendyala Harikrishna, who drew with fellow-Indian Surya Shekhar Ganguly, took the third place with five points. In another all-Indian battle, Krishnan Sasikiran beat Sandipan Chanda.

Marat Dzhumaev of Uzbekistan won the International Open tournament beating compatriot Saidali Iuldachev in the final round.

The results (Indians unless stated): Category 16 (ninth round): Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (Rom) 6 drew with Abhijit Kunte 3.5; Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzb) 6 drew with Emil Sutovsky (Isr) 3.5; Surya Shekhar Ganguly 4 drew with Pendyala Harikrishna 5; Zurab Azmaiparashvili (Geo) 4.5 drew with Alexander Beliavsky (Slo) 4.5 Sandipan Chanda 4 lost to Krishnan Sasikiran 4.

The standings: 1-2. Nisipeanu and Kasimdzhanov 6, 3. Harikrishna 5, 4-5: Beliavsky and Azmaiparashvili 4.5; 6-8: Sasikiran, Ganguly and Chanda 4; 9-10. Sutovsky and Kunte 3.5.

International Open (10th round): Evgeny Vladimirov (Kaz) 7 drew with Praveen Thipsay 7; Saidali Iuldachev (Uzb) 6.5 lost to Marat Dzhumaev (Uzb) 7.5; Alexander Fominyh (Rus) 7 drew with Sundarrajan Kidambi 7; Tejas Bakre 7 bt Arghyadip Das 6.5; Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury 6.5 drew with Ruslan Scherbakov (Rus) 6.5; Dibyendu Barua 6.5 bt Sharat Tilak 6; Tahir Vakhidov (Uzb) 6 drew with M.R. Venkatesh 6; Deepan Chakravarthy 5.5 lost to Alexei Barsov (Uzb) 6.5; R.B. Ramesh 6 drew with S. Satyapragyan 6; Atanu Lahiri 6.5 bt Lanka Ravi 5.5; Shukhrat Safin Uzb 6 bt Suvrajit Saha 5; Dinesh Kumar Sharma 5 lost to S. Vijayalakshmi 5; Saptarshi Roy 5.5 drew with P.D.S. Girinath 5.5; Sriram Jha 6 bt K. Ramu 5; G.N. Gopal 6 bt S. Poobesh Anand 5; D. Harika 5 lost to Himanshu Sharma 6; B.S. Sivanandan 6 bt K. Ratnakaran 5; Tania Sachdev 5.5 drew with Rahul Shetty 5.5; Timur Gareev (Uzb) 5.5 bt Parimarjan Negi 5; R.R. Laxman 4.5 lost to T.S. Ravi 5.5.

The standings: 1. Dzhumaev 7.5, 2-6. Vladimirov, Fominyh, Kidambi, Thipsay and Bakre 7, 7-13. Barsov, Iuldachev, Scherbakov, Barua, Roy Choudhury, Arghyadip and Lahiri 6.5.

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