New Delhi (16 Jan 2011): Top seed Ukrainian Grandmaster Alexander Areshchenko ensured a thrilling end to the 9th Parsvnath International Open Chess Tournament by setting for a draw with fellow Ukrainian Grandmaster Yuriy Kuzubov in the eleventh and final round at Ludlow Castle Sports Complex here on Sunday.

Areshchenko tied for the top spot along with national champion Parimarjan Negi, Yuriy Kuzubov, Austrian Grandmaster Ragger Markus and highly regarded Chinese Grandmaster Ni Hua with 9 points each.

Better tie-break score helped Areshchenko to take the Winners trophy and pocketed a shared cash prize of 1.51 lakh rupees while Negi finished second and Kuzubov satisfied with third spot finish. Markus and Ni Hua finished fourth and fifth respectively.

In the final round encounters Negi overcame CRG Krishna while Markus defeated Grandmaster Hannes Stefansson of Iceland and Ni Hua beat former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta to catch up with Areshchenko for the pole position.

Shri. V P Agarwal, Chairman Airport Authority of India; Shri Suneet Sachar, Vice President Parsvnath Developers; Shri Dhiraj Raghuvanshi, President Uttaranchal Chess Association give away the prizes in presence of Shri. Bharat Singh, President Delhi Chess Association.

Final Standings:

(1) GM Alexander Areshchenko of Ukraine with 9 points
(2) GM Parimarjan Negi of India with 9 points
(3) GM Yuriy Kuzubov of Ukraine with 9 points
(4) GM Markus Ragger of Austria with 9 points
(5) GM Ni Hua of China with 9 points
(6) GM Lenic Luka of Slovenia with 8.5 points
(7) GM Mikhailo Oleksienko of Ukriane with 8.5 points
(8) GM Henrik Danielsen of Iceland with 8.5 points
(9) GM Postny Evgeny of Israel with 8.5 points
(10) IM Nabaty Tamir of Israel with 8.5 points

Special Prizes:

Best Under-10 - FM Mitrabha Guha
Best Under-16 - IM Sahaj Grover
Best Junior - GM Yaroslav Zherebukh of Ukraine
Best Delhi Player - IM Vaibhav Suri
Best Delhi Women - Arunima Kalra
Best Women - WGM Nisha Mohota
Best Unrated - Nelson Roganda of Indonesia
Best Rating Between Elo 1200 to 1900 - Akshat Chandra
Best Rating Between Elo 1901 to 2099 - Surendran N
Best Rating Between Elo 2100 to 2250 - Niladri Shekhar Bhattacharya
Best Rating Between Elo 2251 to 2399 - IM Shyam Nikil