Sasikiran wins Grandmasters' tournament

National champion and Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran won the inaugural international Grandmasters' chess tournament, held at Sibbal Palace in Raipur, on Friday.

In the 11th and final round, he beat top seed GM Kostur Pavel of Kazakhstan to clinch the title.

He received the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister's trophy and a cash prize of Rs 100,000 for his fine effort, which saw him tally 8.5 points.

Grandmasters Andrey Shariayazdanov of Russia and Ehsan Ghaem Maghami of Iran finished second and third respectively, with eight points to their credit.

"I came here with the simple intention of gaining a few rating points," said the winner from ONGC, after his fifth consecutive tournament victory.

He started this year by winning an international Grandmasters' tournament in Hastings, England, and won three international tournaments in India. He also regained his national crown at Nagpur by pipping talented teenager Pendyala Harikrishna by a whisker.

Prathamesh Mokal earned his maiden International Master's norm when he defeated IM Tahir Vakhidov (Uzbekistan) in the final round.

Teenager Deepan Chakravarthy and P Mahesh Chandran had achieved their IM norms in the previous rounds.

IM Sandipan Chanda's heroic effort to win against Iranian GM Maghami backfired when he lost the game and with it his chance of getting his final norm of Grandmaster. Had he won today, Sandipan would have been India's seventh Grandmaster.

"I will have to play well in the Goodricke Grandmasters' tournament from 17th march," said a dejected Sandipan after his defeat.

Final rankings:
1. K. Sasikiran (India) 8.5 points.
2. Andrey Shariaytazdanov (Russia) 8
3. Ehsan G Maghami (Iran) 8
4. Pavel Kotsur (Kazakhstan) 7.5
5. Alexander Fominyh (Russia) 7.5
6. Ruslan Sherbakov (Russia) 7.5
7. Sandipan Chanda (India) 7
8. Marat Dzumaev (Uzbekistan) 7
9. Dibyendu Barua (India) 6.5
10. N. K .Mishra (India) 6.5