REYKJAVIK: Grandmaster and former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta ended his a month and a half long European stint with a brilliant victory at the Reykjavik International open chess tournament here.
Leading the strong open by a full point in the final round, Abhijeet just needed a draw that he achieved with ease against talented Italian Grandmaster Francesco Rambaldi in the tenth and final round game.
International Master Tania Sachdev also joined the party making her second Grandmaster norm with consistent play throughout the tournament. Having made the norm with one round still remaining, Tania played out a hard-fought draw with legendry Grandmaster Alexander Beliavsky.
Gupta ended on 8.5 points out of a possible 10, winning seven and drawing three games. In overall standings, Tania finished an impressive 14th on seven points after starting as the 49th seed and emerged as the best woman player of the tournament.
Elite club member Dmitry Andreikin of Russia finished second on eight points and then there was a tie for 3-11 place in which Grandmasters Ivan Cheparinov of Bulgaria had the best tie-break score.
Richard Rapport of Hungary finished fourth while top seed and world number 18 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov had to be content with the fifth place.
It turned out to be a memorable event for Abhijeet who tied for second but only finished fourth in the preceding open at Cannes in France. Here, the former national champion was at the top of his game and his biggest scalps were Sergei Movsesian of Armenia and Nils Grandelius of Sweden. (AGENCIES)
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