Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, June 9: Tamil Nadu teenager and International Master NR Visakh became the first Indian to capture the Mumbai Mayor’s International Open chess tournament trophy by leading a top-three sweep in Mumbai, Thursday. Thus the Tamil lad won a prize money of Rs 3,00,000. Five other Indians finished among the eight players in joint second place.
The 17-year-old Visakh drew his final round match with GM Diptayan Ghosh of West Bengal and was tied for the top place on eight points with Ghosh and Chandigarh’s Himal Gusain, who got the better of IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni, in a three-way tie. The arbiters declared Visakh (ELO 2400) as the champion on a better tie-break as he drew with Ghosh in 16 moves. Ghosh took home Rs 2,00,000 while Gusain Rs 1,00,000.
While this was Visakh’s biggest victory, the soft spoken player who began playing chess at the age of nine said his win over GM Farrukh Amonatov of Tajikistan earlier in the tournament is the high point of his fledgling chess career.
The game between Visakh and Ghosh started with a Queen’s Indian and turned into a Dutch Defence. On the ninth move Ghosh sacrificed a pawn on d5 for better play but both players did not take any risk and agreed for a draw in just 16 moves.
However it was not a good day for the Orissa star WCM Saina Salonika as she lost her final round battle with Ram Krishnan. She finished her campaign in the joint sixth position with 5.5 points in her kitty. She finished her tour with three wins, five draws and two defeats.