Drozdovskij wins SCS International Open GM Chess

Drozdovskij wins SCS International Open GM Chess
14 Jun 2009

BHUBANESWAR: Ukrainian Grandmaster Yuri Drozdovskij outwitted compatriot GM Yaroslav Zinchenko to win the first edition of the SCS International Open GM Chess Tournament on Sunday.

Indian MS Thejkumar also finished with eight points stunning GM Abhijeet Gupta in the final round. But he finished fifth overall with 58.5 Buchholz score, used as tiebreakers by FIDE as the sum of the score of each of the opponents of a player.

In the 10th and final round, Drozdovskij beat Zinchenko to log eight points and share the top spot with GM Kurnosov, GM Andrey Rychagov (Russia), GM Yuriy Kuzubov (Ukraine) and Indias MS Thejkumar.

But bespectacled Drozdovskij was eventually declared champion as his Buchholz score (65) was more than the other four.

GM Kurnosov (64.5), GM Rychagov (63.5) and GM Kuzubov (63) finished second, third and fourth respectively.

India’s Thejkumar impressed, winning eight out of 10 games. He played aggressive chess and beat two GMs en route to his fifth place finish.

In the last round, Thejkumar upset GM Abhijeet Gupta. Not an outright winner, Drozdovskij couldn’t claim the top prize of Rs two lakh. The top five finishers were given Rs 96,000 each.

Fourth seed Drozdovskij credited his title triumph to luck and fine performance in the second half of the tournament.

Here is the full article.