Bologan beat Ivanchuck to claim Finet Title. Sasikiran finishes 7th

Mainz, August 18 (UNI) Viktor Bologan lifted the coveted FiNet Open Rapid Championship by beating Vessely Ivanchuck in the Final round and qualified to play in the Top Four at Chess960 World Rapid Championship.

In the final round yesterday, Ivantchuk just needed a draw to claim the title and a place in the next years Chess960 World Rapid.

He had white pieces against Bologan but a determined Bologan played an attacking game and while Ivantchuk lost a few pawns , Bologan exploited his opponents weak defense and defeated his opponent to become the new FiNET chess960 Champion.

India's Krishnan Sasikiran won the sixth game with ease but lost to defending champion Etienne Bacrot in the next round. He played a good game in the eighth round and beat his opponent. However, he met his match in the next round and despite having white pieces could not withstand the pressure and lost. But in the next game, he defeated G Meler and took his telly to 7.5 from 10 games. In the last round Krishnan played against Drozovski and after a long drawn battle, forced his opponent to surrender. With 8.5 points, he now occupies seventh position.

On the other table India's Pentala Harikrishna however lost his final game to Alexander Grischuck. In this round he lost two games in the eighth and the 11th round, but won the sixth and drew the seventh game. In the ninth round he played a superb game against European Women Rapid Champion Viktoria Cymlite and came out victorious. In the next game against Yussupow, Harikrishna playing with white against kept his opponent under constant threat.

Yussupow, unable to bear tremendous pressure lost the game giving the Indian a valuable full point. Harikrishna finished with a good 7.5 points on the 20th spot.

The third Indian Parimarjan Negi, after scoring three points from five games in the first round, played acceedingly well to take his score to seven points from 11 games.

Etienne Bacrot, who won the FiNet open last year but lost the place in this year's Chess960 World Rapid, preferred to try his luck again in this year Finet Open to regain a place next year.

Surprisingly after trailing the leaders he came back in the game to beat eighth round leader Gata Kamsky to jointly lead the championship with Ivanchuck who defeated Zoltan Almasi in the eighth round game scoring eight points from nine games. However, in the tenth round, he could not keep his winning streak and lost to Vessely Ivanchuk who became the sole leader with nine points.

Bologan spoke to UNI after his crowning and said, ''I am very happy to win the Title. This will now allow me to play in next year's chess960 World Championship. My last game with Ivanchuck was very exciting. He just needed a draw and I must win to get the title hence I played very aggressively. He made several mistakes and I was lucky to get a break and won the game. 9.5 from 11 games , I feel is a very good result.'' Final Results: 1 Victor Bologan 9.5 points Champion 2 Gata Kamsky 9 points Ist Runners up 3 Vesely Ivanchuck 9 points 2nd Runners up UNI XC BJR RS1020