Harikrishna crowned champion

LONDON, AUG. 28. Pentyala Harikrishna rounded off a great month by annexing the Commonwealth chess title with a brilliant last round win over Greek Grandmaster Dimitri Anagnostopoulos here today.

In the final round, played as part of the Ron Banwell mind sports activity here, Harikrishna won the last round to take his tally to 7.5 points. He was joined by Graeme Buckley and Daniel Gormally, but won the title on better tie-break.

It capped an eventful August for the Andhra teenager, who earlier in the month had completed his GM title to break Viswanathan Anand's record of being the youngest Indian GM. He also became the youngest Indian to qualify for the FIDE World championships.

But the final icing would come when the FIDE confirms his GM title next month at its congress in Greece.

In other final-round clashes, Buckley ruined Abhijit Kunte's unbeaten record, and Gormally outplayed Colin McNab to log in 7.5 points, but Harikrishna's better tie-break score earned him the title.

Overall it was a good tournament for the Indians, as four others came inside the top nine bracket while the fifth one tied for the 10th-15th place.

Dibyendu Barua beat Neil McDonald and Lanka Ravi defeated Russian Oleg Kirsanov to finish the three-way tie for fourth to sixth places with Anagnostopoulos. All three had seven points each.

Harikrishna's feat was particularly creditable as he had to take a first round bye for which he got a half point on account of accelerated pairings.

Three other Indians, Barua, Kunte and Neeraj Mishra did the same, taking a half point for the first round. All four came late and straight from Kolkata after the Asian individual championships, which was a qualifier for the FIDE World championships.

Barua and Harikrishna had also qualified for the World championships, making it an excellent month for them, too.

Ponnuswamy Konguvel logged his third straight win and finished in a tie for seventh to ninth place with a good win over Jovanka Houska, who was the top woman finisher in the tournament. Konguvel's win took him to 6.5 points, the same as Kunte, who lost to Buckley. It was Kunte's first defeat of the tournament.

Neeraj Mishra completed a late charge in the tournament with a win over compatriot Pravin Thipsay. It took Mishra's tally to six points and into the tie for 10th-15th place.

The last four rounds of the tournament were a total disaster for Pravin Thipsay, who collected just half a point from them. He lost to Harikrishna, McDonald and finally Mishra and in between drew with Kunte. Thipsay's five points saw him in a tie for the 25th place with a whole lot of players, including his wife, Bhagyashree, who went down to Robert Eames of England.

Saheli Dhar-Barua, however, won her last round against Christopher Njotea of England.

Houska is women's champion

Jovanka Houska, who had scalped Barua earlier in the tournament, finished with 5.5 points and earned an IM norm. She was also adjudged the Commonwealth women's champion. Bhagyashree Thipsay and Saheli Dhar-Barua were the next best women players with five points each. Both Indian girls missed a men's IM norm by half a point.

The third Indian woman player, Y. Pratibha lost her third successive game and finished way down with 3.5 points.

For the 1996 World under-10 champion, Harikrishna, this tournament victory is the biggest since he exploded onto the world scene five years ago. In the last few years, he has accumulated quite a few feats including breaking some of Anand's records.

The Commonwealth title win will fetch Harikrishna œ750 as the prize, besides the title of being the Commonwealth champion, for which he will get a cash reward from the Indian Government as well.

lFinal standings: 1-3. Harikrishna (Ind), Buckley (Eng) and Gormally (Eng) (7.5 points each); 4-6. Anagnostopoulos (Gre), Dibyendu Barua (Ind) and Lanka Ravi (Ind) (7); 7-9. Kunte (Ind), Batyrov (Tkm) and Konguvel (Ind) (6.5); 10-15. McNab (Sco), McDonald (Eng), Mishra (Ind), Ihab Salem (Pal), Eames (Eng), Aikhoje (Ngr) (6); 16-24. Kirsanov (Rus), Maduekwe (Ngr), Houska (Eng), Sowray (Eng), Annaberdiev (Tkm), Crouch (Eng), Franklin (Eng), Thiruchelvam (Eng), Warman (Eng) (5.5).

Other Indians: Pravin Thipsay; Bhagyashree Thipsay and Saheli Dhar-Barua (5 each); Y. Pratibha (3.5).

The results (10th round): Harikrishna bt Anagnostopoulos; Buckley bt Kunte; Gormally bt McNab; Barua bt McDonald; Ravi bt Kirsanov; Batyrov bt Maduekwe; Houska lost to Konguvel; Pravin Thipsay lost to Mishra; Salem bt Barle; Sowray drew with Annaberdiev; Eames bt Bhagyashree Thipsay; Aikhoje bt Lyell; Crouch bt Friedland; Coffey lost to Franklin; Thiruchelvam bt Shiomi; Richards lost to Warman; Rendle drew with Bass; Saheli Dhar-Barua bt Njotea; Spink lost to Bigg; Wilson drew with Fox; Manodip Dhar drew with Nelson; Hegarty lost to Stirling; Dekker bt Pratibha; Szabo drew with Cox; Gardner lost to Young; Cork bt Kreuzer; Scott lost to Arunmathi; Baron bt MacLeod.

- UNI

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