Ashwin ends tied 13th to be best Indian performer in Albena

Albena (Bulgaria): Ashwin Jayaram emerged as the best Indian with a tied 13th place finish after settling for a draw with GM Boris Chatalbashev of Bulgaria in the ninth and final round of Grand Europe Albena Chess tournament, here.

There was little to cheer for the Indian enthusiasts as highest rated Indian Abhijeet Gupta went down fighting against International Master Vitaliy Bernadskiy of Ukraine in his final round. Earlier in the eighth round Abhijeet had raised visions of an improved finish after outplaying Eylon Nakar of Israel. Tigran Petrosian of Armenia comprehensively won the tournament defeating Levente Vajda of Romania in the last round. The Armenian finished with a very impressive eight points out of a possible nine and remained a full point clear of nearest rivals. Hrant Melkumyan of Armenia, Mircea-Emilian Parligras of Romania, Tamir Nabaty of Israel and Bernadskiy tied for the second spot on seven points each. Jayaram on six points ended in a tie for the 13th place along with Anurag Mahamal who defeated Melih Yurtseven of Turkey in the last game. Gupta, V Vishnu Prasanna and Swapnil Dhopade ended the tournament on a disappointing 5.5 points. Gupta also lost valuable rating points that puts him below the 2600 rating mark again. Sagar Shah ended the tournament on a high finishing with 4.5 points in all while N Raghavi also did well to score four points. In the final round it was again a blunder that cost Abhijeet Gupta dearly. The middle game arising out a Grunfeld defense was quite playable with equal chances but a positional oversight resulted in a force queen exchange that landed the Indian in troubles. Bernadskiy did not give any chance thereafter and won three minor pieces for a rook which proved decisive. The Indians will now move to the Golden Sands tournament which is bigger than this one with 40000 Euros prize money at stake. An improved performance is much on cards as the Indian Senior, junior and sub junior teams join the already present players in the black sea resort. Important and Indian results final round (Indians unless stated): Levente Vajda (Rou, 6.5) lost to Tigran Petrosian (Arm, 8); Hrant Melkumyan (Arm, 7) drew with Mircea-Emilian Parligras (Rou, 7); Tamir Nabaty (Isr, 7) beat Vladislav Nevednichy (Rou, 6.5); Vitaliy Bernadskiy (Ukr, 7) beat Abhijeet Gupta (6.5); Boris Chatalbashev (Bul, 6) drew with Ashwin Jayaram (6); Ogulcan Kanmazalp (Tur, 5.5) drew with V Vishnu Prasanna (5.5); Melih Yurtseven (Tur, 5) lost to Anurag Mhamal (6); Swapnil Dhopade (5.5) beat Abdalla Luiz Guilherme Aurell (Bra, 4.5); Vladimir Valkov (Bul, 3.5) lost to Sagar Shah (4.5); Veselij Gagarin (Rus, 4) drew with N Raghavi (4) Round 8: Vladislav Nevednichy (Rou, 6.5) drew with Hrant Melkumyan (Arm, 6.5); Tigran Petrosian (Arm, 7) beat Boris Chatalbashev (Bul, 5.5); Krikor Sevag Mekhitarian (Bra, 5.5) lost to Levente Vajda (Rou, 6.5); Mircea-Emilian Parligras (Rou, 6.5) beat Evgeny Sveshnikov (Lat, 5.5); Avetik Grigoryan (Arm, 5.5) drew with Vitaliy Bernadskiy (Ukr, 6); Ashwin Jayaram (5.5) drew with Dragan Solak (Tur, 5.5); Anurag Mhamal (5) lost to Vasil Spasov (Bul, 6); Abhijeet Gupta (5.5) beat Eylon Nakar (Isr, 4.5); V Vishnu Prasanna (5) drew with Tiberiu-Marian Georgescu (Rou, 5); Vasile Sanduleac (Mda, 5.5) beat Swapnil Dhopade (4.5); Sagar Shah (3.5) lost to Konstantin Zalkind (Isr, 4.5); N Raghavi (2.5) beat Mykola Lisnichuk (Ukr, 1.5). PTI