Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Sept 17: IM Swapnil S Dhopade of Railways emerged champion in the IVth Keshabananda Memorial Fide Rating Chess Championship, which concluded here Thursday.
Swapnil bagged 8.5 points out of 10 to take the top honours. In the 10th and the final round, he played out an exciting draw with talented IM Narayanan Srinath of Tamil Nadu. But that was enough for his title triumph.
IM S Nitin of Railways was the first runner-up, while Srinath finished as the second runner-up. Himal Gusian of Chandigarh secured fourth position. All three ended on 7.5 points, but the positions were decided on the basis of tie-breakers.
Nitin signed peace with GM RR Laxman of ICF. Himal had to be satisfied with the fourth place finish despite a convincing win over IM P Shyaam Nikhil.
Orissa players had a dismal tournament. Barring Utkal Ranjan Sahoo of KIIT, none could finish within the top 20. Utkal stood seventh with seven points in his kitty. In his last match he forced higher-rated IM S Ravi Teja of Railways to share points with him.
Among other Orissa players, FM Rakesh Kumar Jena (6) finished 28th. FM Soumyaranjan Mishra (5.5), WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty (5.5) and Rakesh Kumar Nayak (5.5) bagged the 31st, 32nd and 35th positions respectively.
Champion Swapnil bagged a glittering trophy along with a cash prize of Rs 1, 50,000. The first runner-up and the second runner-up received cash prizes of Rs 1,00,000 and Rs 50,000 respectively along with trophies. Utkal took home Rs 14,000.
