Ruiyuan emerges champ at Chennai Open chess

Yu Ruiyuan of China emerged champion with 9.0 points after the 11th and final round of the SDAT-RMK 4th Chennai Open International Grandmaster chess tournament here Thursday.

Sharing the second spot with 8.5 points were top seed Aleksandrov Aleksej (Belarus), defending champion Kravtsiv Martyn (Ukraine), Akshayraj Kore (India), Marat Dzhumaev (Uzbekistan) and Gomez John Paul (Philippines).

In the crucial final round, Yu held Dzhumaev without difficulty in a Sicilian game lasting 33 moves. The tournament was a big triumph for the untitled Ruiyuan who started as the 13th seed with an ELO rating of 2491 and finished on top of the table. The title win fetched him an International Master Norm as well as a Grandmaster Norm.

As a silver lining, India’s performing star in this event, International Master Kore made his Grandmaster Norm with a solid draw in the final round with Martyn. The Nimzo Indian game saw the Indian gaining the upper hand with a pawn up position, but accurate defence by the Ukranian forced Kore to settle for a draw after 55 moves.

Final Placings: 1. Yu Ruiyuan (China) 9, 2-5 Aleksandrov Aleksej (Belarus), Akshayraj Kore (India), Gomez John Paul (Philippines), Kravtsiv Martyn (Ukraine), Marat Dzhumaev (Uzbekistan) 8.5, 6-17 Oleksienko Mikhailo (Ukraine), S P Sethuraman, Hoang Thanh Trang (Hungary), V Vishnu Prasanna, Zeng Chongsheng (China), P Karthikeyan, J Deepan Chakkravarthy, T U Navin Kanna, S Nitin, Ankit R Rajpara, Barbosa Oliver (Philippines), R R Laxman 8, 18-20 Ziaur Rahman (Bangladesh), Vaibhav Suri, Ma Qun (China) 7.5 pts.

Results (Round 11): Yu Ruiyuan (China) 9 drew Marat Dzhumaev (Uzbekistan) 8.5, Akshayraj Kore 8.5 drew Kravtsiv Martyn (Ukraine) 8.5, Barbosa Oliver (Philippines) 8 drew Aleksandrov Aleksej (Belarus) 8.5, Hoang Thanh Trang (Hungary) 8 drew Oleksienko Mikhailo (Ukraine) 8, Ma Qun (China) 7.5 lost to Gomez John Paul (Philippines) 8.5, P Karthikeyan 8 drew J Deepan Chakkravarthy 8, V Vishnu Prasanna 8 drew Zeng Chongsheng (China) 8, Rahman Ziaur (Bangladesh) 7.5 drew S Nitin 8, T U Navin Kanna 8 bt Henrik Danielsen (Iceland) 7, S P Sethuraman 8 bt Ghosh Diptayan 7, Ankit R Rajapara 8 bt M R Venkatesh 7, Himanshu Sharma 7.5 drew Vaibhav Suri 7.5, R R Laxman 8 bt S Amardeep Bartakke 7, Gagare Shardul 7.5 drew Neelotpal Das 7, Paragua Mark (Philippines) 7.5 bt C Praveen Kumar 6.5.