Filipino Barbosa emerges champion

Sixth-seeded Filipino Grandmaster Oliver Barbosa clinched the 10th Parsvnath International Open Grandmasters chess tournament by defeating Indian International Master Shyam Nikil in the eleventh and final round at the Ludlow Castle Sports Complex here on Monday.

The victory took Barbosa's tally to nine and half points. He pocketed a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh.

Grandmaster Gomez John Paul of Philippines and Indian International Master Lalith Babu tied for the second spot on nine points but better tie-break score helped Filipino Grandmaster finish second while Lalith had to content with third spot.

In the final round, Lalith outwitted International Master K Rathnakaran while Gomez drew with Ma Qun of China. Ma Qun secured International Master norm during the process.

Final standings: GM Oliver Barbosa (Philippines) 1; GM Gomez John Paul (Philippines) 2; IM Lalith Babu 3; GM Mark Paragua (Philippines) 4; Ma Qun (China) 5; GM Andrei Deviatkin (Russia) 6; Zeng Chongsheng (China) 7; IM Vaibhav Suri (India) 8; IM Shyam Nikil (India) 9; GM Abhijit Kunte (India) 10.

Important results (Indians otherwise stated):

Round XI: IM Shyam Nikil P (8) lt to GM Oliver Barbosa (Philippines, 9.5); Ma Qun (China, 8.5) drew GM Gomez John Paul (Philippines, 9); IM Rathnakaran (8) lt to IM Lalith Babu (9); GM Kravtsiv Martyn (Ukraine, 8) drew IM Vidit Santosh Gujarathi (8); GM Mark Paragua (Philippines, 8.5) bt GM Evgeny Gleizerov (Russia, 7.5); IM Vaibhav Suri (8) drew GM Abhijit Kunte (8); IM Nitin S (8) bt GM Sandipan Chanda (7); Zeng Chongsheng (China, 8) bt GM Mikhail Ulibin (Russia, 7); IM Somak Palit (7) lt to GM Andrei Deviatkin (Russia, 8); GM Mikhailo Oleksienko (Ukraine, 7.5) drew IM R Siddharth (7.5); IM Vishnu Prasanna (7.5) drew IM Kiril Kuderinov (Kazakhstan, 7.5); GM Deepan Chakkravarthy (7.5) drew IM Debashis Das (7.5).