Venkatesh finishes fifth; Mary Ann best among woman

Varna (Bulgaria): Grandmaster M R Venkatesh delivered when it mattered the most and defeated Romanian Mircea-Emilian Parligras in the ninth and final round of Grand Europe Golden Sands International Chess tournament here.

Venkatesh finished with an impressive tally of seven points out of a possible nine and finished joint second. However as the four-way tie was resolved the Indian ended on fifth spot. Grandmaster Nils Grandelius of Sweden won the 40000 Euros prize money tournament defeating Indian GM S Arun Prasad in the final round. The Swede ended on 7.5 points in all, a half point clear of Zybnyk Hracek of Czech Republic, Vladislav Nevednichy of Romania, Vladimir Georgiev of Macedonia and Venkatesh. India`s national women`s champion Mary Ann Gomes continued her fine display in the tournament and drew with Grandmaster Vasil Spasov to end of 6.5 points and emerge as the best woman player of the competition. Also ending on 6.5 points was International Master Ashwin Jayaram who came very close to attaining the Grandmaster title following a draw with Viditt Gujrathi in the last round. Ashwin stands to gain around 26 points from the two tournaments here and in all likely hood the next Varna tournament should see him emerge as the next Grandmaster of the country. For the records, Gujrathi finished eighth, Ashwin Jayaram ninth and Arun Prasad 10th on the merit list. Highest rated Indian, Abhijeet Gupta also was not far behind on 6.5 points ending 12th overall. Rusev Krasimir played a solid game against Gupta to hold out an easy draw with white in the final round. Another Indian GM, Deep Sengupta also scored 6.5 points and finished 17th. Arun Prasad had the best chances among Indians but his aspirations suffered a setback against Grandelius in a Frecnh defense game. The Indian had troubles in the Winawer variation wherein Grandelius was able to launch an attack on the king after opening desired files. Arun Prasad resigned when he could not avert material loss. Important and Indian results of final round (Indians unless stated): Vladimir Georgiev (BUL, 7) drew with Zybnyk Hracek (CZE, 7); Nils Grandelius (SWE, 7.5) beat S Arun Prasad (6.5); Rusev Krasimir (BUL, 6.5) drew with Abhijeet Gupta (6.5); Dragan Solak (TUR, 6.5) drew with Deep Sengupta (6.5); M R Venkatesh (7) beat Mircea-Emilian Parligras (ROM, 6); Mary Ann Gomes (6.5) drew with Vasil Spasov (BUL, 6.5); Vidit Gujrathi (6.5) drew with Ashwin Jayaram (6.5); Yuri Solodovnichenko (UKR, 6) drew with M Karthikeyan (6); G N Gopal (6) drew with Asaf Givon (ISR, 6); N Srinath (6) drew with M Shyam Sundar (6); Debashis Das (6) beat Shardul Gagare (5); Sahaj Grover (6) beat Dagur Arngrimsson (ICL, 5); Swapnil Dhopade (5) lost to Ali Marandi Cemil Can (TUR, 6); Valentin Panbukchian (BUL, 4.5) lost to Diptayan Ghosh (5.5); Bosko Abramovic (SRB, 4.5) lost to Sayantan Das (5.5); Anurag Mhamal (5.5) beat Alexey Volodin (RUS, 4.5); Soumya Swaminathan (5) drew with Eesha Karavade (5); G A Stany (5.5) beat Margarita Voiska (BUL, 4.5); G Akash (4.5) lost to Elitsa Raeva (BUL, 5.5); Tiberiu-Marian Georgescu (ROU, 5.5) beat Sidhant Mohapatra (4.5); Bhakti Kulkarni (4.5) lost to Sagar Shah (5.5); Aravindh Chithambaram (5) beat Rucha Pujari (4); Kiran Manisha Mohanty (4.5) drew with Cosmin Parligras (ROU, 4.5); Hristo Ivelinov (BUL, 4.5) drew with Nisha Mohota (4.5); Viktor Forsberg (SWE, 4.5) drew with N Raghavi (4.5); R Vaishali (3.5) lost to Irina Ionescu (ROU, 4.5); Riya Savant (3.5) lost to Gireman Ja (4.5); Srija Seshadri (4.5) beat Ralf Danielmeier (GER, 3.5); Parnali Dharia (4) beat Alexander Kiselev (RUS, 3); G K Monnisha (4) beat Valentin Kamenov (BUL, 3); Ioana Gelip (ROU, 4) beat Y Saranya (3); Uldis Melderis (LAT, 3.5) beat R Bharathi (2.5). PTI