Prague, March 7: India’s dominance in chess continued unabated with Grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram winning the first major title of his career after finishing ahead of established names including compatriot R Praggnanandhaa at the Prague Masters tournament here on Friday.
The 25-year-old Aravindh ended the tournament with six points after settling for a draw with Gurel Ediz of Turkey in the ninth and final round.
World No. 8 Praggnanandhaa finished tied second with five points after losing to Dutchman Anish Giri.
Tamil Nadu’s Aravindh ended on six points out of a possible nine after his three victories and six draws in the tournament.
Praggnanandhaa concluded his campaign on five points along with Giri and top seed Wei Yi of China.
Aravindh chose the solid Caro Kann to counter Ediz’s King pawn and the Turkish youngster went for the Advance variation. Aravindh had to part with a pawn early in the opening but the complications remained as white had a fractured king side and the extra pawn on the other flank was not of much use.
The players repeated several times during the first time control and Gurel realized that it was not so easy to force matters.
“I have not slept well in the last two days, I was completely fine till the seventh round and then I got this lead and there was pressure,” Aravindh said.
The champion also praised his mentor and coach Grandmaster R B Ramesh and singled out his game against Anish Giri as his best effort in the tournament.
Venkatesh wins World Jr Chess Championship
India’s Pranav Venkatesh won the World Junior Chess Championship (Under-20) after settling for a draw against Matic Levrencic of Slovenia in the 11th and final round in Petrovac, Montenegroon on Friday.
Venkatesh, who had won the challengers section in the Chennai International last year, continued his great show among juniors in the world, remaining undefeated during the course of the event.
The Indian scored a total of seven victories and four draws to end up on nine points out of a possible 11 and when the final round pairings were announced it was clear that a draw will be enough for Venkatesh. (PTI)
