7th Tamil Nadu IM Norm Closed Circuit Chess Tournament
Belarus grandmaster Alexei Fedorov won the 7th Tamil Nadu IM Norm Closed Circuit Chess Tournament, organized by Coimbatore District Chess Association at Alankar Grande, Coimbatore today. By agreeing to a draw with Adireddy Arjun of Telangana, Alexei scored 7.5 points. The second and third placed Sai Viswesh of Chennaiand Arjun were at a far distance with six points each. This is the second successive title to Alexei, after winning the last tournament at Chennai.
Tactical play by Sai Vishwesh towards the end against the USA grandmaster Raset Ziatdinov in a closed Sicilian defence fetched him a point. Raset miscalculated in his queen exchange and had to lose his rook immediately, without any compensation.
GM Evgeniy Podolchenko of Belarus played a good end game against WIM Sakshi Chitlange of Maharashtra in his Queens gambit declined game. He sacrificed his knight to give an excellent finishing touch.
In an equally balanced middle game, Hemanth Kumar of Chennai committed a few mistakes which helped Kyrgyzstan international master Asylbek Abdyzhaphad to win a point. IM DavidGochelashvili of Russia had a powerful queen against G Gugan of Salem to mop up the latter’s pawns at will. Gugan resigned, when he lost a knight by fork in the queen and knight ending.
Dr. M. Manickam, president, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association and Chairman Sakthi Group of Industries, Coimbatore distributed the prizes in the presence of Sri Senthil Chinnasamy, President of Coimbatore District Chess Association.
FM Sai Viswesh C of CHennai had the consolation of winning the second place
| Final Ranking after 9 Rounds | ||||
| Rk. | Name | FED | Pts. | |
| 1 | GM | Alexei Fedorov | BLR | 7,5 |
| 2 | Sai Vishwesh.C | IND | 6 | |
| 3 | CM | Adireddy Arjun | IND | 6 |
| 4 | GM | Evgeniy Podolchenko | BLR | 5,5 |
| 5 | IM | Asylbek Abdyzhapar | KGZ | 5 |
| 6 | WIM | Sakshi Chitlange | IND | 4,5 |
| 7 | IM | David Gochelashvili | RUS | 4,5 |
| 8 | Gugan G | IND | 3 | |
| 9 | Hemanth Raam | IND | 2 | |
| 10 | GM | Raset Ziatdinov | USA | 1 |
Attachment
