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Kidambi wins

— File Photo

S. Kidambi.

NEW DELHI: International Master S. Kidambi came up with a Grandmaster-norm making performance on way to winning the Badalona International Open chess tournament at Badalona, Spain, on Saturday.

Kidambi took a 17-move draw from second-seeded Cuban GM Omar Almeida Quintana for a tally of 7.5 points from the nine-round competition. Kidambi’s rating performance of a whopping 2660, as against the required 2601 for a GM norm, came after he scored three points off the four GMs he faced.

It was also great news for former National champion and IM P. Konguvel, who performed at 2612 to stake his claim for a GM norm.

The seasoned campaigner drew with top-seeded Ukrainian Victor Moskalenko in the final round in 17 moves and, like Kidambi, remained unbeaten in the event.

Meanwhile, at Warsaw, top seed Grandmaster K. Sasikiran moved closer to winning the Najdorf memorial chess title after scoring six points from eight rounds.

He drew the penultimate round with Poland’s Macieja Bartlomiej to lead the field by one point. In the final round, against Poland’s Michal Krasenkow, Sasikiran needs only a draw to take the title.

So far, Sasikiran has won against second-placed Bartosz Socko (Poland), Eduardas Rozentalis (Lithuania), Robert Kempinski (Poland) — all Grandmasters — and the last-placed International Master Michael Oiszewski (Poland) in the 10-player all-play-all event.

The results (involving Indians):

Badalona International (ninth round): S. Kidambi (7.5) drew with Omar Almeida Quintana (Cub, 6.5); P. Magesh Chandran (6.5) drew with Miguel Munoz Pantoja (Per, 6.5); P. Konguvel (7) drew with Victor Moskalenko (Ukr, 6).

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