Sethuraman wins national chess title in Pune

Pune, Aug 26 (PTI) S P Sethuraman of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board emerged champion in the 60th National Chess Championship here on Saturday, after settling for a draw in the ninth and final round to finish with 9.5 points.

Sethuraman drew his 11th and final game against Mitrabha Guha (West Bengal) as the top players chose to play it safe in the concluding round.

Sethuraman remained unbeaten through the 11 rounds, recording eight wins and three draws. This is Sethuraman's second national title after he won his first in 2014.

Top-seed Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta, playing on board two, drew a marathon match against Aronyak Ghosh with white pieces to finish one point behind Sethuraman. He finished ninth.

GM Vishnu Prasanna claimed the second spot with nine points, after posting a win over Abhimanyu Puranik in the final round.

Five players finished on 8.5 points and seven players ended up with 8 points.

Sethuraman received a cash prize of Rs 6,00,000 while the runner-up received Rs 4,00,000.

The prizes were distributed by All-India Chess Federation treasurer Naresh Sharma.

Results: 11th round: S P Sethuraman (9.5 points) drew with Mitrabha Guha (8.5 points); Abhijeet Gupta (PSPB, 8.5 points) drew with Aronyak Ghosh (RSPB, 8.5 points); Vishnu Prasanna (TN, 9 points) beat Abhimanyu Puranik (AAI, 8 points); Diptayan Ghosh (WB, 8.5 points) drew with N R Vignesh (RSPB, 8.5 points); Surya Shekhar Ganguly (PSPB, 8.5 points) beat Suyog Wagh (Mah, 7.5 points); M R Venkatesh (PSPB, 8 points) drew with N R Visakh (RSPB, 8 points); P Iniyan (TN, 8 points) drew with S Nitin (RSPB, 8 points); P Karthikeyan (RSPB, 8 points) drew with L R Srihari (TN, 8 points). PTI SS PDS PDS