Chennai Grandmaster S.P. Sethuraman, the second seed, played out a 15-move draw and to emerge a clear winner and clinch his maiden National Premier chess title here on Thursday. He tallied 8.5 points from the 13-round event.
Almost three hours after Sethuraman’s short draw with former Asian junior champion Deepan Chakravarthy, after repetition of moves in the Ruy Lopez Berlin, the bottom seed P.D.S. Girinath jolted top-seeded GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi.
National Challengers’ champion Vidit’s shocking loss turned the race for the silver into a very interesting one.
And in the end, GM Deep Sengupta, who was tied with IM P. Karthikeyan on eight points, finished runner-up with a superior tiebreak score.
“The game was a little complicated, started with Sicilian Rossolimo and then in the middle game it was double-edged,” said the 43-year-old Girinath, the oldest player here.
The results (13th and final round): R.R. Laxman lost to P. Karthikeyan; Swayams Mishra drew with P. Shyam Nikhil; S.P. Sethuraman drew with Deepan Chakravarthy; Deep Sengupta drew with V.A.V. Rajesh; P.D.S. Girinath bt Vidit Santosh Gujrathi; M.R. Lalith Babu lost to Abhijit Kunte; Sahaj Grover (rest).
Final standings: 1. S.P. Sethuraman (PSPB, 8.5 pts), 2. Deep Sengupta (PSPB, 8), 3. P. Karthikeyan (Rly, 8), 4. Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (PSPB, 7), 5. Sahaj Grover (Del, 7), 6. Abhijit Kunte (PSPB, 6.5), 7. M.R. Lalith Babu (PSPB, 6), 8. P. Shyam Nikhil (TN, 5.5), 9. J. Deepan Chakkravarthy (Rly., 5.5), 10. Swayams Mishra (Odi, 5), 11. R.R. Laxman (Rly., 4), 12. V.A.V. Rajesh (TN, 3.5), 13. P.D.S. Girinath (Rly., 3.5).
