S S Ganguly clinches title in tie-breaker

Hyderabad, Mar 5 (UNI) National Champion and Grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguly of Indian Oil won the ONGC Cup International Grandmasters Open Chess Tournament after settling for a quick draw with Grandmaster Pavel Kotsur of Kazakhstan in the 10th and final round here at KVBR Indoor Stadium.

Ganguly finished the tournament with 8 points and his tiebreaker turned out to be the best. Erstwhile sole leader International Master J Deepan Chakravarthy emerged runner up after a 6-way tie at the top was resolved. In the final round, Chakravarthy also quickly drew his game with Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay.

However, things turned out quite differently on the remaining boards as decisive games were the order of the day. Making merry was D P Singh who defeated Grandmaster Alexander Fominyh of Russia in his last effort in the event and moved to 8 points. Singh finished sixth overall.

Grandmaster Ziaur Rahman scored a lucky victory over compatriot Abdullah Al Rakib and joined the 8-pointers group while the other success was registered by Asian Junior Champion S Arun Prasad who scored over Grandmaster to be Reefat Bin Sattar of Bangladesh. All six players vying for the first spot will go home richer by a little over Rs one lakh each in the Rs 8.25 lakh prize money tournament.

P Singh stole the final day thunder with his imaginative attacking display despite being pushed to the wall by immensely experienced Fominyh. Playing the white side of a Sicilian Paulsen, Singh went all out for a victory and was duly rewarded when Fominyh's patience broke up during the final stages.

Having sacrificed a piece, Singh created irresistible threats thereafter and following another error by his opponent, won a rook back for no counter play. A few quick exchanges led to a completely winning endgame for Singh and he made no mistakes.

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