Photo Courtesy: Shahid Ahmed/ ChessBase India
Eighteen-year-old Harsha Bharathakoti has won the Kathmandu GM International Open Chess Tournament held in Kathmandu, Nepal. With this win, Harsha bagged a glittering trophy along with winner’s cash prize of Rs. 2,00,000/- The five-day event which ran through 12 to 17 April 2018 saw the participation of 63 Indians.
Harsha scored 7.5/9 and was half-point ahead of his nearest rivals. He drew against Azerbaijan’s Grandmaster Mirjorv Azar in the final round to emerge as the winner.
Ukraine’s Tarlev Constantine secured third position with seven points but came behind Azar due to tie-breaks. He received Rs 80,000. Tarlev drew with India’s IM Himal Gosain in the ninth round. Likewise, IM P Shyam Nikhil secured fourth place.
Final Ranking after 9 Rounds
| Rk. | SNo | Name | sex | FED | RtgI | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | ||
| 1 | 8 | IM | Harsha Bharathakoti | IND | 2424 | 7,5 | 0,0 | 49,0 | 54,0 | 4 | 6 | ||
| 2 | 5 | GM | Mirzoev Azer | AZE | 2504 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 51,0 | 55,0 | 5 | 5 | ||
| 3 | 4 | GM | Tarlev Konstantin | UKR | 2549 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 50,5 | 54,0 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 4 | 14 | IM | Shyaamnikhil P | IND | 2385 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 49,5 | 53,5 | 5 | 5 | ||
| 5 | 6 | GM | Greenfeld Alon | ISR | 2490 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 49,0 | 53,0 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 10 | IM | Gusain Himal | IND | 2413 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 47,0 | 50,5 | 5 | 5 | ||
| 7 | 1 | GM | Volkov Sergey | RUS | 2598 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 46,5 | 50,5 | 4 | 6 | ||
| 8 | 9 | IM | Llaneza Vega Marcos | ESP | 2422 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 43,5 | 47,5 | 4 | 7 | ||
| 9 | 13 | GM | Fominyh Alexander | RUS | 2391 | 6,5 | 0,0 | 50,0 | 54,5 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 10 | 2 | GM | Sandipan Chanda | IND | 2579 | 6,5 | 0,0 | 50,0 | 53,5 | 5 | 4 | ||
| 11 | 3 | GM | Sengupta Deep | IND | 2579 | 6,5 | 0,0 | 49,0 | 52,5 | 5 | 5 | ||
| 12 | 11 | IM | Prince Bajaj | IND | 2409 | 6,5 | 0,0 | 48,0 | 53,0 | 5 | 5 | ||
| 13 | 25 | Neelash Saha | IND | 2212 | 6,5 | 0,0 | 48,0 | 52,0 | 4 | 5 | |||
| 14 | 12 | GM | Sriram Jha | IND | 2392 | 6,5 | 0,0 | 47,5 | 50,0 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 15 | 19 | FM | Gajwa Ankit | IND | 2292 | 6,5 | 0,0 | 45,0 | 49,0 | 4 | 6 | ||
| 16 | 21 | IM | Deshmukh Anup | IND | 2282 | 6,5 | 0,0 | 44,0 | 47,0 | 4 | 6 | ||
| 17 | 35 | Saptorshi Gupta | IND | 2080 | 6,5 | 0,0 | 43,0 | 46,0 | 4 | 6 | |||
| 18 | 17 | Srijit Paul | IND | 2351 | 6,5 | 0,0 | 39,5 | 42,5 | 4 | 6 | |||
| 19 | 7 | GM | Kasparov Sergey | BLR | 2462 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 50,0 | 53,5 | 5 | 4 | ||
| 20 | 36 | Subhayan Kundu | IND | 2079 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 47,0 | 50,0 | 4 | 6 |

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