Grandmaster Pendyala Harikrishna crashed through the defences of GM Evegeny Gleizerov of Russia in the ninth and final round to finish joint-second in the Masters section of Abu Dhabi Chess Festival on Tuesday.
Former Asian Junior girls' champion Tania Sachdev secured her second Women Grandmaster norm after holding International Master Alexander Raetesky to a draw in the last round game.
Tania finished with an overall score of 4.5 points out of a possible 9 and came up with an excellent performance rating of 2407 Elo points that was enough to get her the coveted norm. The Delhi-based lass needs just one more norm to become a WGM.
Seeded 10th, GM Dmitry Bocharov of Russia emerged the surprise winner of this year's Masters section with a hard-fought victory over former sole leader Ghaem Maghami Ehsan of Iran.
The victory took Bocharov to 7 points and netted him the winner's purse of US $4000 out of a total prize pool of US $16,000. It is interesting to note here that the Russian was almost written off mid-way through the tournament after being on 3/5
However, a final dash with four victories in last four games enabled the Russian to come out with his career best tournament victory.
GMs Mikhail Kobalia of Russia, Pavel Kotsur of Kazakhstan and Harikrishna were tied for the second place with 6.5 points apiece.
In the last round, Kobalia had to work hard for a win against GM Artashes Minasian of Armenia while Kotsur just took a draw with top seed compatriot Evgeny Vladimirov, who had to be content with joint 5th place.
Also finishing among the prize winners were Indian GMs R B Ramesh and Tejas Bakre. Both scored 5.5 points to finish in a tie for 9-16 place.
Harikrishna was man on a mission in the final game and Gleizerov proved no match. Going for one of the rarely played variations in the Slav defence, it was Gleizerov's turn to be surprised as Harikrishna almost nonchalantly developed his pieces on effective squares and despite the early trade of queens, got a lasting advantage.
Playing true to his grinding positional style thereafter, the Indian knocked down a pawn by force and transposed to a minor piece endgame that was a child's play.
The game lasted 53 moves. He also stands to gain five important Elo rating points from this event.
Though needing just a draw in the last round, Tania had to fight it out till the last nail against Raetsky, who tried hard to break the defences of the Indian.
Opting for a Queen's Indian opening, Tania had to hold her nerves together through out tie before signing the truce after 56 moves.
Apart from Tania, Zeinab Mamediarova of Azerbaijan also made her WGM norm.
Bocharov also outclassed Maghami, who played black.
In a Nimzo Indian, Bocharov went for huge complexities and was suitably rewarded as Maghami found himself in an inferior endgame and never recovered.
Amongst Indians in the fray, R B Ramesh humbled Yannick Gozzoli of France from the white side of a Petroff in just 23 moves, Tejas Bakre drew with Alexander Timofeev of Russia while Neelotpal Das shared points with Eesha Karvade.
WGM Aarthie Ramaswamy also drew her game with Shadi Paridar of Iran but Nisha Mohota suffered a defeat at the hands of GM Saidali Iuldachev of Uzbekistan.
Important results final round (Indians unless specified):
Dmitry Bocharov (7, Rus) beat Ghaem Maghami Ehsan (6, Iri); Pavel Kotsur (6.5, Kaz) drew with Evgeny Vladimirov (6, Kaz); P Harikrishna (6.5) beat Evgeny Gleizerov (5.5, Rus); Artashes Minasian (5.5, Arm) lost to Mikhail Kobalia (6.5, Rus); Ashot Anastasian (6, Arm) beat Mahjoob Morteza (5, Iri); Marat Dzhumaev (6, Uzb) beat Konstantin Chernyshov (5, Rus); Artyom Timofeev (5.5, Rus) drew with Tejas Bakre (5.5); R B Ramesh (5.5) beat Yannick Gozzoli (4.5, Fra); Ramil Hasangatin (5.5, Rus) beat Jasper Lauridsen (4.5, Den); Tahir Vakhidov (5.5, Uzb) beat Imad Hakki (4.5, Syr); Safin Shukhrat (4 .5, Uzb) lost to Kivanc Haznedaroglu (5.5, Tur); Abdullah Hassan (5, Uae) drew with Tissir Mohamed (4.5, Mar); Zeinab Mamediarova (4.5, Aze) drew with Sergey Kayumov (4.5, Uzb); Taleb Moussa (4.5, Uae) drew with Nezad Husein Aziz (4.5, Qat); Julia Mashinskaya (4, Rus) lost to Mikhail Ulibin (5, Rus); Alexander Raetsky (4.5, Rus) drew with Tania Sachdev (4.5); Saidali Iuldachev (5, Uzb) beat Nisha Mohota (4); S Kidambi (3.5) lost to Elshan Moradiabadi (4.5, Iri); Al-Tamimi Hamad (4, Qat) drew with Jasim A R Saleh (4, Uae); Neelotpal Das (4) drew with Eesha Karavade (4); Faruk Bistric (3.5, Bi h) drew with Illijin Neboisa (3.5, Rom); Firuza Velikhanli (4) w/o Tayeb Suhail (3, Uae); Shadi Paridar (3.5, Iri) drew with Aarthie Ramaswamy (3.5).
