The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Abhijeet finishes sixth

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 28, 2006

Sport

Sport - Chess

Abhijeet finishes sixth

NEW DELHI: Grandmaster-norm holder Abhijeet Gupta tied for the second spot behind Bulgarian GM Aleksander Delchev (eight points) in the Balaguer International Open chess tournament and eventually finished sixth on tie-break at Balaguer, Spain, on Wednesday.

The Bhilwara-lad won the 10th and final round against Spain's International Master Mauricio Vassallo to tally 7.5 points. Abhijeet, richer by 500 euros, however, missed his second GM-norm after playing one Grandmaster less than the minimum stipulation.

Abhijeet, who won six games and drew three, also topped the under-20 category. G. N. Gopal, whose second IM norm came during the event, was second.

Woman Grandmaster Eesha Karavade, having made her maiden IM norm, took the third prize in the women's category.

World under-10 boys' champion Sahaj Grover was adjudged the best in the under-14 section and among those rated between 2000 and 2099.

The results (involving Indians):

10th round: Mauricio Vassallo (Esp, 6.5) lost to Abhijeet Gupta (7.5); P. Konguvel (6) lost to Karen Movsziszian (Arm, 7); Alexander Kovchan (Ukr, 7) bt Lanka Ravi (6); G. N. Gopal (7) bt Reiner Castellanos (Chi, 6); Lius Ibarra Chami (Mex, 6) lost to S. Satyapragyan (7); S. Kidambi (6.5) bt Eesha Karavade (6); Dinesh Sharma (6) drew with Aimen Rizouk (Alg, 6); Vishal Sareen (6) drew with Karolina Ortiz Nadya (Col, 6); Oswaldo Zambrana (Bol, 5.5) bt Abhyudaya Rajpurohit (4.5); Josep M. Rodriguez Melgar (Esp, 4.5) lost to Sahaj Grover (5.5).

Indians' standings: 6. Gupta, 10-11 Gopal and Satyapragyan, 19. Kidambi, 25. Konguvel, 31-32 Eesha and Ravi, 35. Dinesh, 45. Sareen, 49. Grover and 71. Rajpurohit.

Category prizes: Under-14: 1. Sahaj Grover; Under-20: 1. Abhijeet Gupta, 2. G. N. Gopal; Best woman: 3. Eesha Karavade; Rating between 2000 and 2099: 1. Sahaj Grover.