Indian Grandmaster S.P. Sethuraman won the Barcelona Open chess tournament title right here whilst compatriot Karthikeyan Murali finished third. Sethuraman (Elo 2644) accrued 7. 5 factors from 9 rounds to emerge the winner on the premise of a higher tie-break rating after Daniil Yuffa of Russia additionally completed the level with the Indian player.
In the 9th and very last round played overdue on Thursday, Sethuraman beat Hakobyan in a Catalan Closed version game. Sethuraman, who was the pinnacle seed, remained unbeaten thru the 9 rounds, prevailing six fits and drawing 3.
He completed strongly, scoring wins in his closing 3 rounds, which include over fellow Indian N.R. Visakh and Armenia's Aram Hakobyan.
“Elated to win the Barcelona Open 2021,” he tweeted after the win.
Sethuraman won 8. 5 Elo points way to the triumph whilst Karthikeyan (Elo 2606) improved his with the aid of using 6. 4 points. Sethuraman and Karthikeyan had played out a draw in the fifth round.
Karthikeyan won six games, drew two and went down to Hakobyan in the sixth round. He finished equal on seven points with four others, including fellow Indian Aravindh Chithambaram, but clinched the third spot on the basis of a better tie-break score.
In the final round, Karthikeyan outplayed WGM R. Vaishali in 30 moves.