Top seed Grandmaster Praggnanandhaa R drew his ninth-round encounter with B Adhiban in 63 moves to emerge as clear champion with seven points in the Asian Continental Chess Championship at Leela Ambience Convention Hotel here.

In the women's section Grandmaster Nandhidhaa P V drew her final round game against Divya Deshmukh to take her point tally to seven and half points to lift the title.

A six-way tie for the runner-up position with six and half points was resolved by tie break score and Harsha Bharathakoti finished ahead of the rest while B Adhian completed the Indian domination with a third-place finish. 

-----------------------------Advertisement------------------------------------

Narayanan S L, Vokhidov Shamsiddin of Uzbekistan, Sethuraman S P and Karthik Venkataraman satisfied with fourth to seventh finish.

In the women's section, Priyanka Nutakki, Divya Deshmukh and Thi Kim Phung Vo of Vietnam finished equal on six and half points but better tie-break score helped Priyanka to finish as runner-up. Divya finished third and Vo placed fourth.

Meanwhile, Grandmaster Rinat Jumabayev of Kazakhstan and Divya Deshmukh became the Asian Blitz champions in the open and women categories respectively.

Deputy President of the Asian Chess Federation Mr. Bharat Singh Chauhan and General Secretary Mr. Hisham Al-Taher gave away the trophies and cash prizes to the winners.

Top Ten (Open): 1. GM Praggnanandhaa R 2. GM Harsha Bharathakoti 3. GM Adhiban B  4. GM Narayanan S L 5. GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov of Uzbekistan 6. GM Sethuraman S P 7. Karthik Venkataraman 8. IM Pranesh M 9. IM Viani Antonio Dcunha 10. Pranav Anand.

Women : 1. WGM Nandhidhaa P V 2. WGM Priyanka Nutakki 3. WGM Divya Deshmukh 4. WGM Vo Thi Kim Phung of Vietnam 5. FM Kurmangaliyeva Liya of Kazakhstan 6. Nguyen Thi Mai Hung of Vietnam 7. IM Padmini Rout 8. WIM Aakanksha Hagawane  9. IM Nisha Mohota 10. WGM Vantika Agrawal.

must read