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Wang Hao wins 9th HDBank International 2019, Gukesh gives a 2700 performance!

by Shahid Ahmed - 17/03/2019

Top seed GM Wang Hao won the 9th HDBank International Open 2019. Despite starting the event with a draw, he scored 7.5/9 and won the tournament for the second time. GM Wen Yang of China and GM Stanislav Bogdanovich of Ukraine scored 7.0/9 each and were placed first and second runner-up respectively. GM Gukesh D also finished at 7.0/9 after he scored a convincing win over GM Megaranto Susanto of Indonesia in the final round. WIM Nandhidhaa P V finished at 6.5/9 and she was declared as the best woman player. She made her maiden WGM and IM norm in the tournament after missing it eight times before. The final report contains selected games, photos and videos from final round award giving ceremony.

Gukesh finishes 4th, Nandhidhaa claims the Best Woman

Wang Hao made a quick draw in the final round with fellow countryman GM Wen Yang to win the championship for the second time | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Top 3 finishers in Masters section (L to R): GM Stanislav Bogdanovich, GM Wang Hao, WIM Nandhidhaa P V and GM Wen Yang along with FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich | Photo: Shahid Ahmed
GM Wang Hao after winning 9th HDBank International Open 2019 | Video: Shahid Ahmed

GM Wen Yang of China had a good tournament. He scored 7.0/9 with a performance rating of 2637 and finished at 2nd position ahead of... | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

...GM Stanislav Bogdanovich of Ukraine who also scored 7.0/9 and led until the penultimate round. Due to a lower tie-break score, he had to settle for the 3rd place | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

In the final round game against Alexandr Predke, Bodganovich kept pushing for a win until the end but it was not meant to be.

Bogdanovic talks about his last two round games, his blitz games and more | Video: Shahid Ahmed

India's youngest GM had a fantastic tournament. He scored 7.0/9 and finished joint 2nd | Photo: HD Bank Facebook page

Gukesh performed at a rating of 2700. Look at his scorecard - not even a single drawn game. What a fighter!

Gukesh defeated GM Susanto Megaranto of Indonesia in Pirc Defence after he started picking up his opponent's Queen-side pawns in Pirc Defence and won the game in just 32 moves in the final round.

Gukesh talks about his performance in the tournament and more | Video: Shahid Ahmed

India's 55th GM Karthik Venkataraman is the other Indian who finished in top 10. He scored 6.5/8 with a performance rating of 2570 claimed the sixth place. He is gaining 9.5 Elo Rating | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Nandhidhaa delivered a stellar performance and she was declared as the Best woman player of the tournament | Photo: HD Bank Facebook page

It was one of the best performances of her career as she scored her maiden WGM and IM norm after missing it 8 times before

According to Nandhidhaa, her best game of the tournament was against FM Niranjan Navalgund from round 6.

Leon's biggest takeaway from the event is drawing with the eventual runner-up of the tournament GM Wen Yang. A detailed interview and his record making journey of making three IM-norms in 17 days will be published soon | Photo: HD Bank Facebook Page

Award Ceremony photos:

FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich delivers his speech | Photo: HDBank Chess Official album

President and CEO of Vietjet Air Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao bestows a gift to the FIDE President | Photo: HDBank Chess Official album

Vietjet model is being given as a token of appreciation | Photo: HDBank Chess Official album

A Diploma Certificate was given to Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao for organizing the tournament | Photo: HDBank Chess Official album

Masters section top 3 finishers (L to R): GM Stanislav Bogdanovic (2nd runner-up), GM Wang Hao (Champion), WIM Nandhidhaa P V (Best Woman) and GM Wen Yang (1st runner-up) | Photo: HDBank Chess Official album

Masters category prize winners - 4th to 12th | Photo: HDBank Chess Official album

Masters category prize winners - 13th to 25th | Photo: HDBank Chess Official album

Masters category prize winners (L to R): Woman - IM Irina Bulmaga 2nd, WGM Vo Thi Kim Phung 3rd, IM Pham Le Thao Nguyen 4th, IM Irene Kharisma Sukandar 5th and WGM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova 6th. Best Senior - IM Mikhail Vasylev and Best Under-16 - GM Gukesh D | Photo: HDBankChess Official album

Total 6 norms were made. GM norms - IM Gukesh D, IM Liu Guanchu and Xu Minghui. IM norms - CM Leon Mendonca Luke, FM Setyaki Azarya Jodi and WIM Nandhidhaa P V. Nandhidhaa also made her maiden WGM norm | Photo: HDBankChess Official album

Challengers section top 2 finishers: FM Villanueva Nelson of Philippines - 1st, Pham Thi Thu Hien of Vietnam - Best Woman and Pham Minh Hieu of Vietnam - 2nd | Photo: HDBankChess Official album

Challengers section prize winners: Pham Phunong Duc - 3rd, Nguyen Huyni Tuanh Hai - 4th, CM Vu Quang Quyen - 5th. Woman category: WFM Yanjinlkham Bayarsaikhan - 2nd and Nguyen Truong Bao Tran - 3rd | Photo: HDBankChess Official album

Special Awards were given to Visually and Physically Challenged players participating in the Challengers section | Photo: HDBankChess Official album

The Big Group photo involving all participants and the guests is certainly a nice gesture by the organizers | Photo: HDBank Chess Official album

Complete standings: Masters and Challengers

Video Gallery:

FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich delivers his speech | Video: Shahid Ahmed
Georgia no.1 GM Ivan Cheparinov talks about his performance in the tournament, what makes him come back to the tournament and more | Video: Shahid Ahmed

About the author:

The entire coverage of the tournament was done by ChessBase India editor and senior coordinator Shahid Ahmed. Apart from his journalistic work, Shahid also played the Challengers section, finished 12th without losing a single game!

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