Popov Ivan wins 7th Chennai International Open title

Popov Ivan wins 7th Chennai International Open title
By RR Vasudevan

Top seed Grandmaster Popov Ivan of Russia with 7.5 points and a superior tie-break clinched the title in the 7th Chennai International Open Grandmaster Chess Tournament at Nehru Stadium, Chennai on 6th Jan 2015 .

For the first time in the history of Chennai Open, there was an eight way tie.

Sharing the top spot with Popov were Dzhumaev Marat (Uzbekistan), Mozharov Mikhail (Russia), Ramnath Bhuvanesh R, Swapnil S Dhopade, Ravichandran Siddharth (all India), Gasanov Eldar (Ukraine), Nguyen Duc Hoa (Vietnam), all at 7.5 points.

popov2 Champion Popov Ivan (Russia) was awarded the cash purse of Rs. 200000 (Rupees Two Lakhs only), while Runner-up second placed Uzbek GM Dzhumaev Marat got Rs 150000 (Rupees One lakh fifty thousand only). Third placed GM Mozharov Mikhail (Russia) secured a cash award of Rs. 115000 (Rupees one lakh fifteen thousand only).

Four Norms were made signifying the success of the event viz.,

Grandmaster Norms – Ramnath Bhuvanesh & Swapnil S Dhopade,
International Master Norm – Rakesh Kumar Jena
Woman International Master Norm – Pratyusha Bodda

Cash prizes to the tune of Rs. 10.5 lakhs (Rupees Ten lakhs fifty thousand only) were distributed by Shri Shambhu Kallolikar, IAS, Member Secretary, Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu. Present in the dais were Guest of Honor Shri D V Sundar, Vice President, FIDE, Prof R Anantharam, International Arbiter, Mr Rajesh, Secretary, Chess Association Kerala and Shri V Hariharan, General Secretary, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association.

Category “A” – Final Placings (Indians unless specified) :

1-8 Popov Ivan (Russia), Dzhumaev Marat (Uzbekistan), Mozharov Mikhail (Russia), Ramnath Bhuvanesh R, Swapnil S Dhopade, Ravichandran Siddharth (all India), Gasanov Eldar (Ukraine), Nguyen Duc Hoa (Vietnam) 7.5, 9-10 Cruz Cristhian (Peru), Das Sayantan (India) 7.0 points

Category “A” – Round 10 Results (Indians unless specified) :

Popov Ivan (Rus) 7.5 drew with Mozharov Mikhail (Rus) 7.5, Gasanov Eldar (Ukr) 7.5 drew with Dzhumaev Marat (Uzb) 7.5, Ramnath Bhuvanesh R 7.5 drew with Ravichandran Siddharth 7.5, Brunello Sabino (Ita) 7 drew with Swapnil S Dhopade 7.5, Baryshpolets Andrey (Ukr) 7 drew with Karthikeyan Murali 7, Das Sayantan 7 drew with Cruz Cristhian (Per) 7, Prasanna Raghuram Rao 6.5 lost to Nguyen Duc Hoa (Vie) 7.5, Evdokimov Alexander A (Rus) 7 bt Visakh NR 6.5