Yakkuboev wins Bhopal International GM Open, Venkatesh finishes second

Central India's biggest chess tournament Bhopal International GM Open 2019 came to a successful completion. Uzbekistan's GM Nodirbek Yakubboev drew with Indian GM Venkatesh M R in the final round which was also the last game to finish and according to the tie-break score, Yakubboev clinched the championship. After the conclusion of final round, six players finished with a score of 8.0/10

The 11th-20th prize winners received ₹11000 cash prize each, 21st-30th got ₹10000 and 31st-40th won ₹8000 cash prize each respectively. Total ₹1414000 cash prize was distributed among the prize winners.

India's Secretary (Sports) Radhey Shyam Julaniya (IAS) encouraged everyone by with his inspiring words. His message to everyone was to be physically fit like Vishy Anand. He also congratulated all players of Madhya Pradesh who showed great performance at the tournament.

Apart from him, State Sports Secretary S L Thaosen, All India Chess Federation President PR Venkatarama Raja, Secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan, Treasurer Kishore Bandekar, FIDE Vice President D V Sundar, FIDE Member Ravindra Dongre, Madhya Pradesh Chess Association President Sunil Bansal, IAS S N Rupala, Union Bank DGM Gurtej Singh and Organizing Secretary Kapil Saxena were present and encouraged all the players. The best veteran prize was awarded to B K Gulhariya of Bhopal and the best female player was awarded to Ishvi Agarwal of Haryana. Madhya Pradesh's top player in the competition was awarded to the sensation emerged in the competition to Shivansh Tiwari, while Aishwin Daniel was awarded the best player of Bhopal.

What went down in the final round

The top board clash for the championship was an extremely exciting game. Playing with white pieces Venkatesh opted Sicilian Rossolimo, he pressed hard for an advantage but Yakubboev gave him no chance and the game eventually ended up in a draw after 77 moves. With this result, both players finished with a score of 8.0/10 each.

Hungarian GM Attila Czebe drew with IM Nguyen Van Huy of Vietnam on board no.2. They both scored 8.0/10 each.

GM Adam Tukhaev of Ukraine beat GM Manik Mikulas of Slovakia to finish fifth.

IM Taher Yoseph Theolifus secured the second runner-up position by defeating Raahul V S. Thus six players finished with a score of 8.0/10. This only reveals how strong the field of tournament was.

Translation from Hindi by Shahid Ahmed

Final Standings

Complete standings

Replay all games

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