Grandmaster R R Laxman of ICF, Chennai, 8.0 points, emerged the Champion on a tie-break after the tenth and final round of the 10th Chennai Open International Grandmaster Chess tournament 2018 for Sakthi Group Dr N Mahalingam Trophy at The Vijay Park Hotel, Chennai here today.

The five players sharing the podium, with 8/10 score, in their respective tie-break order of placement are: Laxman R R (India), Rozum Ivan (Russia), Gareyev Timur (USA), Dzhumaev Marat (Uzbekistan) and Erigaisi Arjun (India).

Laxman, also a former Commonwealth Champion, takes home the winner’s purse of Rupees 200000 (Euros 2563) along with a glittering Chennai Open 2018 trophy. Top seed Gareyev’s defeat of second seed GM Rozum Ivan of Russia in the first board, ensured a five-way tie for the top.

The tournament saw three Norms being made viz., Woman International Master Norm achieved by Woman FIDE Master C Lakshmi, International Master Norms achieved by Karthik Venkataraman and Nikhil Dixit respectively.

Cash prizes to the tune of Rs 1100000 (Euros 14100) to top fifty finishers, were distributed by Shri Bharat Singh Chauhan, Hon. Secretary, All India Chess Federation. Present in the dais were Shri D V Sundar, Vice President, FIDE, Shri Manuel Aaron, Arjuna Awardee, Shri B Murugavel, Vice President, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, Shri P Stephen Balasamy, General Secretary, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association.

Final Placings (Indians unless specified) : 1-5 Laxman R R (India), Rozum Ivan (Russia), Gareyev Timur (USA), Dzhumaev Marat (Uzbekistan), Erigaisi Arjun (India) 8, 6-12 Deepan Chakkravarthy J (India), Pruijssers Roeland (The Netherlands), Sidhant Mohapatra, Rathnakaran K, Raghunandan K S (all India), Atalik Suat (Turkey), Nguyen Duc Hoa (Vietnam) 7.5 pts…(267 players)

Important Results (Round 10) (Indians unless specified) : Gareyev Timur (USA) 8 bt Rozum Ivan (Rus) 8, Karthik Venkataraman (7) lost to Erigaisi Arjun (8), R R Laxman (8) bt Visakh N R (7), Llaneza Vega Marcos (Spa) 7 lost to Dzhumaev Marat (Uzb) 8, Sidhant Mohapatra (7.5) drew with Tukhaev Adam (Ukr) 7, Deepan Chakkravarthy J (7.5) bt Tiviakov Sergei (Ned) 6.5, Khusenkhojaev Muhammad (Tjk) 7 drew with Solodovnichenko Yuri (Ukr) 7, Raghunandan K S (7.5) bt Sivuk Vitaly (Ukr) 6.5, Deshmukh Anup (6.5) lost to Atalik Suat (Tur) 7.5, Pruijssers Roeland (Ned) 7.5 bt Nitin S (6.5), Karthikeyan P (6.5) lost to Rathnakaran K (7.5), Nguyen Duc Hoa (Vie) 7.5 bt Roy Chowdhury Saptarshi (6.5).

R R Vasudevan
Press Officer
Chennai Open 2018