Abhijeet wins Pune International Grandmaster Round Robin Chess Tournament

Pune, Jul 8 (PTI) Top seed Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta of India emerged champion with 7.5 points at the Pune International Grandmaster Round Robin Chess Tournament here on Wednesday. International Master Aswath S finished runner-up with seven points and, in the process, achieved his third and final Grandmaster norm to become India's 98th Grandmaster. Grandmaster Kushagra Mohan secured the third place with 6.5 points, while Pune's FIDE Master Advik Agarwal earned his second International Master norm after finishing with five points. In the ninth and final round, Abhijeet defeated Sri Lanka's International Master LMST De Silva to seal the title. Ashwath overcame USA's FIDE Master Vaidyanathan Kannan, while International Master Akshay Borgaonkar scored an important victory over Nitish Belurkar. The decisive encounter between Aswath and Vaidyanathan turned out to be the most exciting game of the round. Vaidyanathan opened with 1.d4, while Ashwath opted for the King's Indian defence. An early inaccuracy left Aswath in a difficult position, but he defended resourcefully and kept the game alive. The American later missed a crucial opportunity to capitalise on another mistake, allowing Aswath to seize the initiative and convert the game into a memorable victory that confirmed his Grandmaster title. Champion Abhijeet received the winner's trophy along with a cash prize of Rs 1,00,000, while runner-up Aswath was awarded the trophy and Rs 75,000. Advik Agarwal received a special cash award of rs 25,000 for achieving his second International Master norm. PTI SSC SSC AM AM