Date:15/07/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/15/stories/2008071560341800.htm

Sport - Chess

Soumya adjudged best; Srinath wins in Dubai

NEW DELHI: Woman Grandmaster Soumya Swaminathan was adjudged the best lady performer in the Benasque International Open chess tournament in Benasque, Spain, after she scored 6.5 points from the 10-round competition on Saturday.

Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta drew the final round with USA’s Vinay Bhat reach 7.5 points, an aggregate later matched by comeback-man Deep Sengupta.

Julio Granda Zuniga was the winner with 8.5 points.

Two Indian girls, A. Niji and R. Preethi, however, narrowly missed their Woman International Master norms. The Indian contingent of over 25 players now plays in the Belaguer International Open, the last event of its three-stop trip to Spain.

Meanwhile, in the Dubai junior championship, N. Srinath easily retained the title with a tally of eight points from nine rounds.

He started the event as the top seed and maintained an unbeaten run to justify his billing.