Mhamal clinches All-India Chess title

Mangalore, May 2 (IANS) Second seed Goan Anurag Mhamal, sponsored by Dempo, emerged champion after the ninth and final round of the All-India Open FIDE Rated chess tournament here Wednesday with a tally of 7.5 points as he drew with M. Kunal of Tamil Nadu.

Mhamal tied with V. Raghavendra (Karnataka) and Akash Thakur (Railways) on points, but the tie-breaks favoured the Goan junior player who received the winner's purse of Rs.30,000.

In the fourth spot at 7.0 points were Pranav Vijay, Kunal (both TN), Rohan Ahuja, Ritviz Parab (both Goa), Rajkumar S. Singha and Akshay Halagannavar (both Karnataka).

Final Placings: 1-3 Anurag Mhamal (Goa), V Raghavendra (Kar), Akash Thakur (Rlys) 7.5; 4-9 Pranav Vijay, M Kunal (both TN), Rohan Ahuja, Ritviz Parab (both Goa), Rajkumar S Singha, Akshay V Halagannavar (both Karnataka) 7.0; 10-16 A Akshaya (TN), Niraj Saripalli (Goa), Vaibhav Bhat (Kar), Anirudh V Bhat (Goa), Santosh Kashyap HG (Kar), Akhilesh T Rai (Goa), R Parthasarathy (Kar) 6.5; 17-20 Bagyashree Thipsay (Mah), Naik Rishubh Naresh, Nandhini Saripallli (both Goa), Aditya Pai K (Kar) 6.0.

Important results (Round 9): Pranav Vijay (TN) 7 drew Akash Thakur (Rlys) 7.5, Anurag Mhamal (Goa) 7.5 drew M Kunal (TN) 7, V Raghavendra (Kar) 7.5 bt Santosh Kashyap HG (Kar) 6.5, Bagyashree Thipsay (Mah) 6 lost to Akshay V Halagannavar (Kar) 7, A Akshaya (TN) 6.5 drew Anirudh V Bhat (Goa) 6.5, Sharan Rao (Kar) 6 lost to Rohan Ahuja (Goa) 7, Aditya Pai K (Kar) 6 lost to Ritviz Parab (Goa) 7, Rajkumar S Singha (Kar) 7 bt Ojas Kulkarni (Kar) 6, Raghav Bagri (Raj) 5.5 lost to Vaibhav Bhat (Kar) 6.5, Niraj Saripalli (Goa) 6.5 bt Shalon Joanne Pais (Kar) 5.5, Yashaskara Jois K R (Kar) 6 drew Arjun Vairavan (Sin) 6

Round 8: Pranav Vijay (TN) 6.5 drew Anurag Mhamal (Goa) 6.5, Akash Thakur (Rlys) 7 bt Bagyashree Thipsay (Mah) 6, M Kunal (TN) 6.5 bt Niraj Saripalli (Goa) 5.5, Vaibhav Bhat (Kar) 5.5 lost to V Raghavendra (Kar) 6.5, Santosh Kashyap HG (Kar) 6.5 bt Naik Rishubh Naresh (Goa) 5.5, Rajkumar S Singha (Kar) 6 drew A Akshaya (TN) 6, Rohan Ahuja (Goa) 6 bt G Aarthi (TN) 5, Ritviz Parab (Goa) 6 bt O T Maanas (Ker) 5, Anirudh V Bhat (Goa) 6 bt S Vasishta (Kar) 5, L Vivekananda (Kar) 5 lost to Aditya Pai K (Kar) 6.