The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Abhijeet Gupta becomes IM

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 13, 2005

Sport

Sport - Chess

Abhijeet Gupta becomes IM

DUBAI, APRIL 12. Former National junior champion Abhijeet Gupta took a short draw with compatriot GM Abhijit Kunte in the eighth round of the Dubai Open chess tournament and became the youngest member of India's International Masters `Club'.

On a day when K. Humpy and S. Kidambi lost, 12-year-old Parimarjan Negi closed in on his second International Master after drawing with Filipino GM Nelson Mariano. G. Rohit, however, spoilt his chances of a possible norm by losing to China's Zhou Jiancho.

With a round to go, nine players share the lead with six points.

From India's point of view, 15-year-old Abhijeet's performance in the premier meet has been the biggest gain. In the last five rounds against Grandmasters, the ONGC-sponsored youngster has scored a win and drawn the rest. The draw against Kunte confirmed Abhijeet's third and final norm. His earlier two norms came in the Parsvnath International in New Delhi in October 2003 and the Commonwealth Championship in Mumbai in January 2004. In April 2004, Abhijeet touched a rating of 2400, mandatory for claiming the IM-title once the norms have been achieved.

The results (eighth round): Merab Gagunashvili (Geo) (6) drew with Zhang Zhong (Chn) (6), Zhang Pengxiang (Chn) (6) drew with Giorgi Kacheishvili (Geo) (6), Alexander Motylev (Rus) (5.5) drew with Ashot Anastasian (Arm) (6), Wang Yue (Chn) (5.5) drew with Kiril Georgiev (Bul) (5.5), Tamaz Gelashvili (Geo) (5) lost to Bu Xiangzhi (Chn) (6), Evgenij Miroshnichencko (Ukr) (6) bt Mohammad Al-Modiahki (Qat) (5), Viorel Iordachescu (Mda) (6) bt Valeriy Neverov (Ukr) (5), Wang Hao (Chn) (6) bt Alexander Riazantsev (Rus) (5).

Other results involving Indians: K. Humpy (4.5) lost to Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze) (4), Bu Xiangzhi (Chn) (5) bt Sandipan Chanda (4). S. Kidambi (4.5) lost to Evgeny Vladimirov (Kaz) (5.5), Abhijeet Gupta (5) drew with Abhijit Kunte (5), Sandipan Chanda (4.5) drew with Lanka Ravi (4.5), G. Rohit (4) lost to Zhou Jiancho (Chn) (5), Nelson Mariano (Phi) (4.5) drew with Parimarjan Negi (4.5), R. B. Ramesh (5) bt Shashikant Kutwal (4), Oleg Kulivoc (Rus) (4.5) bt Aswin Jayaram (3.5), Basheer Al-Qudaimi (Yem) (4.5) bt Omkar Patwardhan (3.5), Josip Asik (Scg) (4.5) bt D. Sai Srinivas (3.5), Rahul Shetty (4) drew with Martin Poulsen (Fai) (4), Elmir Guseinov (Aze) (3.5) drew with Chaitanya Vaidya (3.5), Eesha Karavade (4) bt P. Doostkam (Iri) (3), Alexadner Menshikov (Rus) (3) lost to G. Balaji (3), Negueb Saleh (UAE) (3) lost to S. Mari Arul (4), Fabien Schmitt (Fra) (3) lost to S. P. Sethuraman (4), Ishaq Saeed (UAE) (3) lost to Kruttika Nadig (3.5), N. Srinath (3.5) bt Shirin Navabi (Iri) (2.5).

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