Harikrishna wins C'wealth chess

Pendyala Harikrishna rounded up a great month by annexing the Commonwealth chess title in London with a brilliant last round win over Greek GM Dimitri Anagnostopoulos.

In the final round, played as part of the Ron Banwell mind sports activity, Harikrishna won the last round to take his tally to 7.5 points.

He was joined by Graeme Buckley and Daniel Gormally, but he won the title on account of a better tie-break score.

It capped an eventful August for the Andhra teenager, who earlier in the month unknowingly got his GM title to break Vishwanathan Anand's record of being the youngest Indian GM. He also become the youngest Indian to qualify for the FIDE World championships.

But the final icing would come when the FIDE confirms his GM title next month at their Congress in Greece.

In other final-round clashes, Buckley ruined Abhijit Kunte's unbeaten record, and Gormally outplayed Colin Mcnab to log in 7.5 points.

Overall it was a good tournament for the Indians, as four others came inside the top nine bracket while the fifth one tied for the 10th-15th place.

Dibyendu Barua beat Neil McDonald and Lanka Ravi defeated Russian Oleg Kirsanov to finish the three-way tie for fourth to sixth places with Anagnostopoulos. All three had seven points each.

Harikrishna's feat was particularly creditable as he had to take a first round bye for which he got a half point on account of accelerated pairings.

Three other Indians -- Barua, Kunte and Neeraj Mishra -- did the same, taking a half point for first round. All four came late and straight from Calcutta after the Asian Individual championships, which was a qualifier for FIDE World championships.

Barua and Harikrishna had also qualified for World championships, making it an excellent month for them.

Ponnuswamy Konguvel logged his third straight win and finished in the tie for seventh to ninth place with a good win over Jovanka Houska, who was the top woman finisher in the tournament.

Konguvel's win took him to 6.5 points, the same as Kunte, who lost to buckley. It was Kunte's first defeat of the tournament.

Neeraj Mishra completed a late charge in the tournament with a win over compatriot Pravin Thipsay. It took Mishra's tally to six points and into the tie for 10th-15th place.

The last four rounds of the tournament were a total disaster for Pravin Thipsay, who collected just half a point from them. He lost to Harikrishna, McDonald and finally Mishra and in between drew with Kunte. Thipsay's five points saw him a tie for the 25th place with a whole lot of players, including his wife, Bhagyshree, who went down to Robert Eames of England.

Saheli, however, won her last round against Christopher Njotea of England.

Jovanka Houska, who had scalped Barua earlier in the tournament, finished with 5.5 points and earned an IM norm. She was also adjudged the commonwealth women's champion.

Bhagyashree Thipsay and Saheli Dhar Barua were the next best women players with five points each. Both Indian girls missed a men's IM norm by half a point.

The third Indian woman player, Y Pratibha lost her third successive game and finished way down with 3.5 points. For the 1996 world under-10 champion, Harikrishna, this tournament victory is the biggest since he exploded onto the world scene five years ago.

In the last few years, he has accumulated quite a few feats including breaking some of Anand's records. The Commonwealth title win will fetch Harikrishna 750 pound sterling as the prize besides the title of being the Commonwealth champion, for which he will get a cash reward from the Indian government as well.

Final standings (after ten rounds) :

1-3. Harikrishna (Ind) , Buckley (Eng) and Gormally (Eng) (7.5 each);
4-6. Anagnostopoulos (Gre), Dibyendu Barua (Ind) and Lanka Ravi (Ind) (7 each);
7-9. Kunte (Ind), Batyrov (Tkm) and Konguvel (Ind) (6.5 each);
10-15. Mcnab (Sco), McDonald (Eng), Mishra (Ind), Ihab Salem (Pal), Eames (Eng), Aikhoje (Ngr) (6 each);
16-24. Kirsanov (Rus), Maduekwe (Ngr), Houska (Eng), Sowray (Eng), Annaberdiev (Tkm), Crouch (Eng), Franklin (Eng), Thiruchelvam (Eng), Warman (Eng) (5.5 each).

Other Indians:
Pravin Thipsay; Bhagyashree Thipsay and Saheli Dhar Barua (5 each);
Y Pratibha (3.5)

Results of the 10th and final round :

Harikrishna beat Anagnostopoulos;
Buckley beat Kunte;
Gormally beat Mcnab;
Barua beat McDonald;
Ravi beat Kirsanov;
Batyrov beat Maduekwe;
Houska lost to Konguvel;
Pravin Thipsay lost to Mishra;
Salem beat Barle;
Sowray drew with Aannaberdiev;
Eames beat Sathe-Thipsay;
Aikhoje beat Lyell;
Crouch beat Friedland;
Coffey lost to Franklin;
Thiruchelvam beat Shiomi;
Richards lost to Warman;
Rendle drew with Bass;
Saheli Dhar-Barua beat Pjotea;
Spink lost to Bigg;
Wwilson drew with Fox;
Manodip Dhar drew with Melson;
Negarty lost to Stirling;
Dekker beat Prathiba;
Szabo drew with Cox;
Gardner lost to Young;
Cork beat Kreuzer;
Scott lost to Arunmathi and
Baron beat MaCleod.