NEW DELHI: A pre-agreed draw, lasting just 14 moves, brought an anti-climactic end to the title-race of the Delhi International Open chess tournament here on Monday.
Overnight leader and top seed Farrukh Amonatov and Diptayan Ghosh enacted a farcical draw on the top board since the result suited both.
Amonatov won the title with an unsurpassable tally of 8.5 points from 10 rounds. Ghosh and Uzbek Marat Dzhumaev (8 each) finished behind the champion, in that order.
Ghosh, playing white, was expected to try harder and make Amonatov stretch for the title, but the third seed’s passive approach aided the Tajikistan player cross the finish-line with ease.
Amanatov received ₹4 lakh, Ghosh ₹3 lakh, Dzhumaev ₹2 lakh and M. Karthikeyan, who topped a six-player pack at 7.5 points, took home ₹1 lakh.
M.R. Lalith Babu, the only winner on the top-six boards, finished sixth, behind Swayams Mishra.
In Group C, Suhaib Ahmad of Uttar Pradesh topped a four-way tie at nine points to claim the title, worth ₹2 lakh. R.P Vaisakh (Kerala), S. Sathya Narayanan (Tamil Nadu) and Bishal Basak (Bengal) filled the next three places and received, ₹1.5 lakh, ₹1 lakh and ₹75,000 respectively.
The results:
10th round: Diptayan Ghosh (8) drew with Farrukh Amonatov (Tjk, 8.5); M. Karthikeyan (7.5) drew with Marat Dzhumaev (Uzb, 8); Swayams Mishra (7.5) drew with Adam Tukhaev (Ukr, 7.5); M.R. Lalith Babu (7.5) bt N.R. Visakh (7); P. Shyamnikhil (7) drew with Vitaly Sivuk (Ukr, 7); Karen Movsziszian (Arm, 7) drew with Nguyen Huynh Minh Huy (Vie, 7); Andrei Deviatkin (Rus, 7.5) bt Niaz Murshed (6.5); Hesham Abdelrahman (Egy, 6.5) lost to Attila Czebe (Ita, 7.5); Saptarshi Roy (7) drew with Sahaj Grover (7); Alberto David (Hun, 7) bt Niranjan Navalgund (6.5); S.L. Narayanan (7) bt Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury (6).
Final standings: 1. Amonatov; 2-3. Ghosh, Marat; 4-9. Karthikeyan, Swayams, Lalith, Czebe, Deviatkin and Tukhaev.
