Gibraltar chess: Draws peg Indians back in final round, Russia's Paravyan claims title

Draws in the final round forced teen sensation R Praggnanandhaa and three other Indians out of title contention in the Masters category of 18th Gibraltar chess festival here.

Grand Master Aryan Chopra secured the best finish among the Indians, taking the 11th place while Karthikeyan Murali was 13th.

The experienced K Sasikiran took 18th spot while Praggnanandhaa was 20th.

Twenty-one-year old Russian David Paravyan beat compatriot Andrey Esipenko and China's Wango Hao in the tie-break to emerge champion following a play-off late on Thursday.

Four players got into the play-offs after six had finished tied first on 7.5 points.

Apart from Praggnanandhaa, B Adhiban, Karthikeyan Murali, last year's runner-up and Aryan Chopra had finished with 7 points. They could not force a result in their final round game to join the leading pack.

Praggnanandhaa was involved in a marathon 116-move game against Ivan Saric in the 10th round but could not force a win. He had bounced back strongly after ...