Abhijeet finishes joint leader in Bad Wiessee

Bad Wiessee (Germany): Former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta finished as the joint leader after drawing his final round game against Grandmaster Vitali Kunin of Russia in the International Open chess tournament here.

Abhijeet finished with a tally of 7.5 points in all, winning six and drawing the remaining three games. He stands to gain important rating points from his performance here which will take him to the coveted 2600 ELO rating mark. It was a four-way tie at the top and when it was resolved, GM Viorel Iordachescu of Moldova was declared the winner on better Bucholz count. Kunin, Abhijeet and Gerald Hertnek of Germany finishing in that order. Over 400 players including 20 Grandmasters participated in the annual event. Abhijeet was impressive in his games and scored a crushing victory over Iordachescu in the crucial penultimate round game that assured him a shared first place. While Abhijeet played a quick draw in the final game, Iordachescu fought his way hard to the top defeating Egor Krivorborodov of Russia. Among other Indians, 14-year-old Sahaj Grover confirmed his recent status of an International Master with an impressive score of seven points and finished in a tie for 5-18 place. Seeded 56th in the event, Sahaj will gain another 22 points from this event. Sahaj displayed top form in the final round when he beat International Master Oleg Boguslavskyy of Russia, rated more than a 150 points higher. The youngster from Delhi was adjudged the best under-2400 player and also qualified as the best under-18 player in the tournament. The remaining two Indians -- International Masters Dinesh Kumar Sharma and Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury -- finished out of prize list. Bureau Report