IMAGE: Pranav Venkatesh remained undefeated during the nine-round tournament scoring five victories and four draws. Photograph: Crystal Fuller/FIDE
World Junior champion Pranav Venkatesh scored a crushing victory over Grandmaster Alan Pichot of Spain to win the Fujairah Global Superstars chess tournament, in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates.
Pranav scored seven points out of a possible nine and finished a full point lead over nearest rivals Brandon Jacobson of United States, Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara of Mexico and Amin Tabatabai of Iran who all tied for the second spot scoring six points apiece.
GM Aditya Mittal and top seeded GM Nihal Sareen tied for the fifth spot on 5.5 points each in the tournament which concluded on Monday.
Aditya finished sixth overall, while Nihal, who had started with a first-round loss against Pranav, had to be content with 12th place finish.
Pranav remained undefeated during the nine-round
tournament scoring five victories and four draws.
The Indian won the winner’s purse of US$ 23000 for his brilliant run and got a whopping 28 points added to his present ELO rating.
For an 18-year-old, Pranav showed the maturity of a 2843-rated Grandmaster.
Pranav will now move to Samarkand in Uzbekistan to participate in the Grand Swiss, the strongest-ever Swiss tournament with some of the best in business.
The participant’s list includes World champion D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi, P Harikrishna and more talented players from India apart from some other strong players like local hero Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Anish Giri and Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia among others.
Top Standings: 1. Pranav Venkatesh (Ind, 7); 2-4. Brandon Jacobson (Usa); Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara (Mex); Amin Tabatabai (Iri) 6 each; 5-12. Jiner Zhn (Chn); Aditya Mittal (Ind); Alexander Donchenko (Ger); Sanan Sjugirov (Hun); Abhimanyu Mishra (Usa); Shanglei Lu (Chn); Aydin Suleymanli (Aze); Nihal Sarin (Ind) 5.5 each.
