Grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguly missed out on a chance to figure among the prize winners by a whisker, going down to second seeded Grandmaster Vladimir Akopian of Armenia in the 10th and final round of Gibtele.com Masters chess tournament at Caleta hotel in Gibraltar.
Other Indians finished on a mixed note.
The tournament was deservedly won by former world junior champion Kiril Georgiev of Bulgaria, who took an easy draw with GM Emil Sutovsky of Israel in the final round.
Georgiev scored 8.5 points out of a possible 10 and won the winner's purse of 6000 Pounds Sterling (Rs 450,000).
Britain GM Nigel Short and Sutovsky, who both scored an identical 7.5 points, shared the second place and went home richer by 3500 pounds each.
Short lived up to expectations as he defeated GM Mohammad Al-Modaihki of Qatar.
Sandipan Chanda emerged as the best Indian performer in the event after beating Nicolas Speck of Australia, who earlier made his International Master norm in the event.
Winning a fine middle game with white pieces out of a King's Indian defense game, Chanda ended up with 6.5 points and stands to gain 11 Elo rating points from the event.
Also ending on 6.5 points was International Master and GM norm holder S Kidambi, who picked up in the event after an indifferent start.
However, since his opposition was not good enough, Kidambi will lose a few rating points. In the last round game, he defeated Van Den Bresselaar of Holland.
Ganguly definitely had his chances against Akopian, who employed the closed Ruy Lopez as white. It was a tense middle game after the Armenian sacrificed a piece for just two pawns on the queen's side and Ganguly had things under control till such time he allowed a simple tactical trick that resulted in loss of extra piece. The Indian resigned on his 33rd turn.
GM Tejas Bakre was comprehensively beaten by Swiss GM Yannick Pelletier.
It was a queen's Indian defense game in which Tejas was outdone by Pelletier's superior endgame technique and lost a pawn for little counter play. The Frenchman weaved a checkmating net in quick time to romp home in 41 moves.
Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury drew with compatriot Kruttika Nadig and Abhijit Kunte met a similar fate against Viktorija Cmilyte of Lithuania. Swati Ghate held GM Peter Wells of England in a creditable fashion.
Nisha Mohota, Mary Ann Gomes and Anupama Gokhale coasted to final round victories while Bhagyashree Thipsay and Nimmy George were on the receiving end.
Important and Indian results (final round): (Indians unless specified): Kiril Georgiev (Bul, 8.5) drew with Emil Sutovsky (Isr, 7.5); Mohamad Al-Modaihki (Qat, 6.5) lost to Nigel Short (Eng, 7.5); Alexander Areshchenko (Ukr, 7) drew with Sergey Volkov (Rus, 7); Viktor Bologan (Mda, 6.5) drew with Mikhail Gurevich (Tur, 7); Jonathan Speelman (Eng, 6) lost to Alexie Shirov (Esp, 7); Vladimir Akopian (Arm, 7) beat Surya Shekhar Ganguly (6); Zahar Efimenko (Ukr, 7) beat Mohamad Al Sayed (Qat, 6); Juan Belon Lopez (6.5) drew with Mikhail Kobalia (Eus, 6.5); Zoltan Gyimesi (Hun, 7) beat Pia Cramling (Swe, 6); Zhu Chen (Chn, 6.5) beat Arizmendi Martinez (Esp, 6); Viktor Korchnoi (Sui, 6.5) beat Pontus Carlsson (Swe, 5.5); Yannick Pelletier (Sui, 6.5) beat Tejas Bakre (5.5); Victorija Cmilyte (Ltu, 6) drew with Abhijit Kunte (6); Sandipan Chanda (6.5) beat Nicholas Speck (Aus, 5.5); S Kidambi (6.5) beat Van Den Bresselaar (Ned, 5.5); Peter Wells (Eng, 5.5) drew with Swati Ghate (5.5); Kruttika Nadig (5.5) drew with Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury (5.5); Nisha Mohota (5.5) beat Jessie Gilbert (Eng, 4.5); Martyn Goodger (4.5) lost to Mary Ann Gomes (5.5); Anupama Gokhale (5.5) beat Nimmy George (4); Bhagyashree Thipsay (4.5) lost to Emil Agdestein (Nor, 5.5).
