Parimarjan Negi is National Premier Chess Champion

NEW DELHI - Second seed and local favourite Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi of PSPB clinched the coveted National title with nine and a half points after settling for a draw against Grandmaster Tejas Bakre in the National Premier Chess Championship here Wednesday.

Playing with white pieces in the final round, Negi needed just half a point to ensure the title and secured it within 15 moves against his Air India rival at the K.R. Mangalam World School.

Three players tied for the second spot with eight and a half points but better Bucholz tie break score helped Kochi based top seed G.N. Gopal finish second.

In the final round battle, Gopal settled half a point against defending champion Grandmaster B. Adhiban. Adhiban finished third while former national champion Abhijit Kunte was satisfied with fourth spot finish after beating International Master Vidit Gujarathi.

Along with his national title and cash prize of Rs.1.25 lakh, Negi has become the first Indian to secure the berth for the next world cup in Khanty Mansiysk. He also received a special award of Rs.50,000 from Delhi Chess Association for becoming the first local player to win the National Premier chess title.

Results (Round-13): GM Tejas Bakre of Air India (8) drew with GM Parimarjan Negi of PSPB (9.5); GM Gopal G N of PSPB (8.5) drew with GM Adhiban B of PSPB (8.5); GM Abhijit Kunte of PSPB (8.5) beat IM Vidit Gujarathi of Maharashtra (7.5); GM Praveen Thipsay of Maharashtra (8) drew with IM Lalith Babu M R of Andhra Pradesh (8); IM Vaibhav Suri of Delhi (8) beat IM Venkatesh M R of PSPB (7.5); IM Shyam Sundar of Tamilnadu (7) lost to GM Arun Prasad S of PSPB (8); GM Kidambi S of PSPB (6.5) lost to GM Deep Sengupta of West Bengal (7.5); IM Sethuraman S P of Tamilnadu (7.5) beat ikramaditya Kamble of Railways (6.5); GM Deepan Chakkravaarthy of Tamilnadu (7) drew with Navin Kanna T U of Tamilnadu (7); Stany G A of Karnataka (7.5) beat IM Saptarshi Roy of Railways (6); GM Neelotpal Das of Railways (7) beat IM Karthikeyan P of Tamilnadu (6); GM Laxman R R of Railways (6.5) drew with IM Prathamesh Mokal of Maharashtra (6.5); IM Konguvel P of PSPB (7) beat IM Shyam Nikil of Tamilnadu (6); WGM Soumya Swaminathan of Maharasthra (6.5) beat IM Singh D P of Railways (6); Arjun Tiwari of Railways (6) drew with IM Thejkumar MS of Railways (6); IM Debashis Das of Orissa (6) beat Matta Vinay Kumar of Andhra Pradesh (5); IM Sudhakar Babu of Tamilnadu (5.5) drew with IM Suvrajit Saha of

Railways (5.5); WGM Padmini Rout of Orissa (5) lost to FM Ramakrishna J of Andhra Pradesh (6); IM Rahul Sangma of Delhi (5) drew with Shashikant Kutwal of Railways (4.5); Joshi G B of Air India (4.5) drew with IM Dinesh Sharma of LIC (5); FM Rajesh VAV of Tamilnadu (5) drew with IM Vishnu Prasanna of Tamilnadu (4.5); Akash Thakur of Railways (5.5) beat Anilkumar O T of Kerala (2.5)

Final standings (top ten):

1. GM Parimarjan Negi of PSPB

2. GM Gopal G N of PSPB

3. GM Adhiban of PSPB

4. GM Abhijit Kunte of PSPB

5. IM Vidit Santosh Gujarathi of Maharashtra

6. IM Laith Babu M R of Andhra Pradesh

7. GM Praveen Thipsay of Maharashtra

8. GM Arun Prasad S of PSPB

9. GM Tejas Bakre of Air India

10. IM Vaibhav Suri of Delhi