Abhijeet goes down to Ernst; Bojkov takes title

This is the second tournament in a row where Abhijeet has crumbled under pressure in the last round of the event. During the recently held London Classic too, the Indian had lost the final game and missed out on a chance to be amongst the top winners.

Shiven Khosla got the draw he was looking for against Jan Werle of Holland and completed his third and final International Master norm.   However, following the withdrawal of his penultimate round opponent GM Oleg Romanishin of Ukraine and the re-pairing with one of the lowest-placed players, the matter will be recommended to FIDE, the world chess federation, for consideration by the organisers.

According to arbiters, FIDE may agree to the norm as Shiven played quite well throughout and deserved it every bit. For the records, the Indian finished with five points in all with a performance rating of 2467 points, way above his current rating of 2354.

International Master Sahaj Grover yet again showcased his opening preparation to get an easy draw as black against GM Peter Prohaszka of Hungary. In another game, India’s Ashwin Jayaram did well to hold Friso Nijboer of Holland.

Sahaj and Abhijeet finished tied seventh scoring 5.5 points each. Of the two, 15-year old Sahaj will also gain some rating points which will take him past the 2460 mark for his career best rating.