Eesha earns final IM norm, Indians disappoint in Dubai chess

Dubai, May 1 (UNI) Woman Grandmaster Eesha Karavade's third and final International Master norm-earning effort was the only high point for Indians as they failed to finish in the top bracket after the final round in the ninth Dubai Open Chess Championship.

Karavade settled a quick draw with Al Sayed Mohamad of Qatar to complete formalities for her final IM norm.

She lost one game, won three and drew the remaining five matches to finish the tournament on 5.5 points.

B Adhiban also made his second IM norm by signing peace with compatriot WGM D Harika in quick time.

Meanwhile, four players finished with seven points at the top with Grandmaster Amir Bagheri of Iran and Sarhan Guliev of Azerbaijan joining overnight leaders Levan Pantsulaia of Georgia and Gadir Guseinov of Azerbaijan.

Pantsulaia later turned out to have the best tiebreak and was crowned the winner.

P D S Girinath emerged the best Indian ahead of Grandmaster Koneru Humpy and International Master G N Gopal on superior tiebreak with six points.

In the last round, Gopal settled for a creditable draw with ninth seed GM Minasian Artashes of Armenia while Girinath and Humpy played out for a draw.

The Indian winners today were Vikramaditya Kamble (over compatriot RB Ramesh), SP Sethuraman, Aarthie Ramaswamy, Narayanan Srinath, Aditya Udeshi, Shatrughan Jha, Shiven Khosla, Among the losers were Tejas Bakre, Nadig Kruttika, Sundararajan Kidambi, Sahaj Grover and Prasanna Rao.

Round 9 Results (Indians): GN Gopal drew Minasian Artashes (ARM) PDS Girinath drew Koneru Humpy Tejas Bakre lost Al-Modiahki Mohamad (QAT) Eesha Karavade drew Al Sayed Mohamad (QAT) Harika Dronavalli drew B Adhiban Vikramaditya Kamble beat RB Ramesh Kruttika Nadig lost Safarli Eltaj (AZE) Sundararajan Kidambi lost to Hilwani Talal (SYR) Meenakshi Subbaraman drew AR Jasim Saleh (UAE) SP Sethuraman beat Tolentino Rustum (PHI) Sahaj Grover lost to Golizadeh Asghar (IRI) MR Lalith Babu drew MA Sadeghi (IRI) Aarthie Ramaswamy beat Saud Mohamed (UAE) Narayanan Srinath beat Ernesto Yap (PHI) Prasanna Rao lost Frosch Ronald (AUT) Aditya Udeshi Aditya beat Khalid El Amin (SUD) Shatrughan Jha beat Grishina Alexandra (RUS) Shiven Khosla beat Khadija Malalla (UAE) Final Standings: 1-4. Pantsulaia Levan (GEO), Guseinov Gadir (AZE), Bagheri Amir (IRI), Guliev Sarhan (AZE) 7.0; 5-10. Gelashvili Tamaz (GEO), Sadvakasov Darmen (KAZ), Megaranto Susanto (INA), Anastasian Ashot (ARM), Ghaem Maghami Ehsan (IRI), Mchedlishvili Mikheil (GEO) 6.5; 11-25. Kotsur Pavel (KAZ), Safarli Eltaj (AZE), Alavi Sayed Javad (IRI), Petrosian Tigran (ARM), PDS Girinath (IND), Toufighi Homayoon (IRI), Koneru Humpy (IND), Al-Modiahki Mohamad (QAT), Jaan Ehlvest (USA), Vikramaditya Kamble (IND), El Taher Fouad (EGY), Minasian Artashes (ARM), Chiburdanidze Maia (GEO), Zhu Chen (QAT), GN Gopal (IND) 6.0; UNI