Kuzubov Wins Gurgaon International Open Tourney

Five players shared first, Kuzubov with best tiebreak

Press release, Gurgaon (29 Jan 09) - Second seed Yuriy Kuzubov of Ukriane won the Gurgaon International Open Grandmasters Chess Tournament with 8 points here at Suncity World School today. Kuzubov tied for the top spot along with country mate and top seed Alexander Areshchenko, Indian Grandmaster Neelotpal Das, Kazak Grandmaster Anuar Ismagambetov and International Master RR Laxman. But better tie break score helped Kuzubov to take the top position and winner's trophy.

In the final round, Kuzubov settled for a quick draw against National Under-25 champion RR Laxman in just 8 moves while Areshchenko had the same results against Neelotpal Das. Anuar Ismagambetov defeated T U Navin Kanna in the final round encounter and tied for the pole position with 8 points. The five ways tie resolved by bucholz score and Kuzubov edged out rest four. Areshenchenko finished second while Laxman, Anuar and Neelotpal secured third, fourth and fifth position respectively. But all the five pocketed Rs.1,12,000/- as prize money as the prize money shared among the tied players as per the tournament rules.

Yuriy Kuzubov

Laxman, Girinath and Shivanda achieved their grandmaster norms while Shashikant Kutwal and Akash Thakur achieved International Master Norms. Uzbek girl, Muminova Nafisa declared as the best women player of the tournament and she also achieved her Women International Master Norm from this tournament. A P Joshua finished first among unrated players while in the veteran category International Master Boris Arkhangelsky finished at the top.

In the closing ceremony, Kathak Legend Pandit Birju Maharaj gave away the prizes in presence of Shri. KC Wadhwa, Chairman Lions Public School, Shri. Jitender Bhardwaj, Member Grievance Committee, Shri KK Yadav, Film producer, Smt. Rupa Chakravarty, Pricipal Suncity World School, Shri. Pradeep Gupta Secretary Haryana Chess Association, Shri. Raju Verma, President Gurgaon District Chess Association, Shri. Naresh Sharma, General Secretary Gurgaon District Chess Association, CA Naresh Garg, Convenor, Shri. Rajpal Singh Chuhan , Shri. SS Rawat, Shri. Sharmendra Singh and Anil Kumar Parmani.

Final Standings:

1. GM Yuriy Kuzubov of Ukraine with 8 points
2. GM Alexander Areshchenko of Ukraine with 8 points
3. IM R R Laxman of India with 8 points
4. GM Anuar Ismagambetov of Kazakhstan with 8 points
5. GM Neelotpal Das of India with 8 points
6. MR Lalith Babu of India with 7.5 points
7. GM Mikhail Ulibin of Russia with 7.5 points
8. GM Evgeny Gleizerov of Russia with 7.5 points
9. IM Deep Sengupta of India with 7.5 points
10. IM PDS Girinath of India with 7.5 points

Important Results of Round 10 (Indians otherwise stated):

GM Alexander Areshchenko of Ukraine (8) drew with GM Neelotpal Das (8) ; Yuriy Kuzubov of Ukraine (8) drew with IM RR Laxman (8) ; IM PDS Girinath (7.5) drew with GM Evgeny Gleizerov of Russia (7.5) ; GM Anuar Ismagambetov of Kazakhstan (8) beat T U Navin Kanna (7) ; Mehar Chinna Reddy (7.5) drew with Mikhail Ulibin of Russia (7.5 ; Yuri Solodovnichenko of Ukraine (7) drew with Anwesh Upadhyaya (7.5) ; GM Saidali Iuldachev of Uzbekistan (6.5) lost to IM Himanshu Sharma (7.5) ; Somak Palit (6.5) lost to M R Lalith Babu (7.5) ; GM Praveen Thipsay (7) drew with IM N Srinath (7) ; FM S Nitin (6.5) lost to Deep Sengupta (7.5) ; IM B T Murali Krishnan (6.5) lost to B S Shivananda (7.5) ; Shashikant Kutwal (7) drew with IM K Rathnakaran (7) ; Akash Thakur (7.5) beat GM Niaz Murshed of Bangladesh (6.5) ; IM S P Sethuraman (7) drew with P Saravana Krishnan (7) ; T Purushothaman (6.5) lost to GM Nurlan Ibrayev of Kazakhstan (7.5) ; GM Abhijit Kunte (6.5) drew with P Maheswaran (6.5) ; Sagar Shah (6) lost to IM B Adhiban (7) ; IM P Konguvel (7) beat FM Mohannad Farhan (6) ; IM Shyam Sundar (7) beat IM R Balasubramaniam (6) ; Ram Prakash (6) lost to M S Thejkumar (7).

Round 9 report

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