Top-seeded Indian Grandmaster R Pragyanand and compatriot PV Nandidha won the open and women’s titles respectively at the Asian Continental Chess Championship in New Delhi on Thursday. Pragyananand drew with compatriot B Adhiban in a 63-move game in the ninth and final round and emerged the clear winner with seven points. The 17-year-old from Chennai had reached the final round with a half-point lead over the rest of the field. He took up the challenge from the veteran Adhiban and shared the honor of winning the top prize.
This victory also got Pragyanand a ticket to the next FIDE World Cup.
SL Narayanan, Harsh Bharatkoti, Karthik Venkataraman and Shamsiddin Vokhidov, the other players who had a shot at the title, missed out after the draw game.
While Narayanan and Vokhidov settled for a draw, Bharatkoti and Venkataraman had to be content with half-and-half points after their game ended in a stalemate.
GM SP Sethuraman joined five others with 6.5 points to beat IM Kaustav Chatterjee in 41 moves.
On the basis of better tie-break score, Harsh Bharatkoti finished second while Adhiban finished third.
Narayanan, Vokhidov, Sethuraman and Venkataraman finished fourth to seventh respectively.
In the women’s event, WGM Nandidha ended her ninth round match against Divya Deshmukh with 7.5 points. The 26-year-old from Tamil Nadu remained unbeaten for nine rounds and won six games.
Priyanka Nutki, Divya Deshmukh and Thi Kim Phung Wo (Vietnam) were tied with 6.5 points, but Nutki finished second on the basis of a better tie-break. Deshmukh was third and he finished fourth.
Final Place: Open: 1. R Pragyanandan 7 points, 2. Harsh Bharatkoti 6.5, 3. B Adhiban 6.5, 4. SL Narayanan 6.5, 5. Shamsiddin Vokhidov 6.5, 6. SP Sethuraman 6.5, 7. Karthik Venkataraman 6.5, 8. M Pranesh 6, 9. Viani Antonio D’Cunha, 10. Pranav Anand 6, 11. M Shyam Sundar 6, 12. Abhimanyu Puranik 6, 13. Arvind Chithambaram 6, 14, NR Vignesh 5.5, 15. Kaustav Chatterjee 5.5.
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Women: 1. PV Nandidha 7.5 points, 2. Priyanka Nutkki 6.5, 3. Divya Deshmukh 6.5, 4. Thi Kim Phung Wo 6.5, 5. Liya Kurmanglieva 6, 6. Thi Mai Hug Nguyen 6, 7. Padmini Raut 6, 8 Akanksha Hagavane 5.5, 9. Nisha Mohota 5.5, 10. Vantika Agarwal 5.5, 11. Mary Ann Gomes 5.5, 12. Amina Karbekova 5.5, 13. Isha Karavade 5.5, 14. De Nomin-Erden 5.5, 15. Kiran Manisha Mohanty 5.
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