Martyn Kravtsiv Champion, second GM Norm for Adhiban
19-year-old Ukraine Grandmaster Martyn Kravtsiv edged out other GMs to emerge champion in the 2nd SCS International Grandmaster Chess Tournament, which concluded at Hotel Swosti Premium, Bhubaneswar. Joining Kravtsiv in the top were Alexandrov, Turov, Dreev, Adhiban and Kokarev, all with 8.5 points each from 11 rounds.
Kravtsiv’s better Buchholz tie-break score (76.5) gave him the title. In the absence of an outright winner, the top six cash prizes were shared by the top six with each pocketing Rs 87,667 each (approximately Euros 1540 each).
National champion Adhiban Baskaran gladdened the hearts of fellow Indians securing his second GM norm with a draw against top seed GM Alexey Dreev. With his present rating of Elo 2510, Adhiban with few more GM Norm events to come up shortly, could well become India’s next Grandmaster.
In another upset Delhi school boy Vaibhav Suri defeated International Master M R Lalith Babu. The impressive win also fetched Suri his maiden GM norm. Securing 8.0 points from 11 rounds with a rating performance of ELO 2579, Vaibhav stands to add ELO 56 points for his performance and would become India’s next International Master.
Overall, the tournament, offered prizes fund to the tune of Rupees 1,100,000 (approximately Euros 19325). By involving 85 title holders, including 34 GMs, 26 IMs and 3 WGMs, this event could as well be billed as the strongest of its kind in Asia. The success of the tournament can be measured where it produced three titles (two IM, one WGM) and seven norms (two GM, one WGM, four IM) respectively.
Next tournament in India is the 3rd Mumbai Mayor’s Cup, starting on 2nd June.

Star performers Padmini Rout (final WGM Norm) and 13-years old Vaibhav Suri (GM Norm)
Round 11 top results:
GM Dreev Alexey RUS 2655 – IM Adhiban B IND 2510 ½ – ½
GM Kovalyov Anton ARG 2615 – GM Aleksandrov Aleksej BLR 2604 ½ – ½
GM Bocharov Dmitry RUS 2592 – GM Kravtsiv Martyn UKR 2546 ½ – ½
GM Turov Maxim RUS 2624 – GM Simonian Hrair ARM 2521 1 – 0
GM Maletin Pavel RUS 2584 – GM Kokarev Dmitry RUS 2612 0 – 1
GM Hera Imre Jr HUN 2558 – GM Ibrayev Nurlan KAZ 2390 1 – 0
Anwesh Upadhyaya IND 2419 – GM Lafuente Pablo ARG 2587 0 – 1
IM Konguvel Ponnuswamy IND 2412 – GM Khusnutdinov Rustam KAZ 2525 0 – 1
GM Iuldachev Saidali UZB 2511 – IM Praveen Kumar C IND 2391 1 – 0
GM Harutjunyan Gevorg ARM 2460 – GM Kasparov Sergey BLR 2504 1 – 0
Vaibhav Suri IND 2347 – IM Lalith Babu M R IND 2493 1 – 0
GM Czebe Attila HUN 2480 – FM Sai Krishna G V IND 2282 1 – 0
GM Vorobiov Evgeny E RUS 2612 – Shreyansh Daklia IND 2287 1 – 0
GM Luther Thomas GER 2541 – WGM Gara Ticia HUN 2357 1 – 0
GM Sundararajan Kidambi IND 2520 – Bitan Banerjee IND 2311 ½ – ½
Palit Somak IND 2385 – GM Ovetchkin Roman RUS 2519 ½ – ½
Ramnath Bhuvanesh R IND 2350 – GM Sriram Jha IND 2507 ½ – ½
GM Deepan Chakkravarthy J IND 2488 – FM Akshat Khamparia IND 2292 1 – 0
Final standings (249 players):
1-6. GM Kravtsiv Martyn UKR 2546, GM Aleksandrov Aleksej BLR 2604, GM Turov Maxim RUS 2624, GM Dreev Alexey RUS 2655, IM Adhiban B IND 2510 and GM Kokarev Dmitry RUS 2612 – 8.5
7-15. GM Lafuente Pablo ARG 2587, GM Bocharov Dmitry RUS 2592, GM Kovalyov Anton ARG 2615, Vaibhav Suri IND 2347, GM Hera Imre Jr HUN 2558, GM Czebe Attila HUN 2480, GM Harutjunyan Gevorg ARM 2460, GM Khusnutdinov Rustam KAZ 2525 and GM Iuldachev Saidali UZB 2511 – 8.0
16-23. GM Maletin Pavel RUS 2584, GM Simonian Hrair ARM 2521, GM Ibrayev Nurlan KAZ 2390, GM Deepan Chakkravarthy J IND 2488, GM Vorobiov Evgeny E RUS 2612, GM Luther Thomas GER 2541, IM Debashis Das IND 2400 and FM Rajesh V A V IND 2302 – 7.5 etc