Yu Ruiyuan emerges Champion, GM Norm for Akshayraj Kore

Chennai Open 2012 – Yu Ruiyuan emerges Champion, GM Norm for Akshayraj Kore

Yu Ruiyuan of China emerged the Chennai Open 2012 Champion with 9.0 points after the eleventh and final round of the SDAT – RMK 4th Chennai Open 2012 International Grandmaster Chess Tournament, at Multipurpose Indoor Stadium, Periamet, Chennai here today.

Sharing the second spot with 8.5 points were top seed Aleksandrov Aleksej (Belarus), defending champion Kravtsiv Martyn (Ukraine), Akshayraj Kore (India), Marat Dzhumaev (Uzbekistan) and Gomez John Paul (Philippines) respectively.

In the crucial final round, Yu held Uzbek Grandmaster Marat Dzhumaev without difficulty in a Sicilian game lasting 33 moves. The tournament is big triumph for the untitled Chinese star Yu Ruiyuan who started as the 13th seed with an ELO rating of 2491 and finished on top of the table. The title win fetches Yu an International Master Norm, as well as a Grandmaster Norm.

As a silver lining, India’s performing star in this event, International Master Akshayraj Kore made his Grandmaster Norm with a solid draw in the final round against defending champion Grandmaster Kravtsiv Martyn of Ukraine. The Nimzo Indian game saw the Indian gaining the upper hand with a pawn up position. But accurate defence by the Ukraine Grandmaster saw the Akshayraj Kore settling for a draw after 55 moves.

The cash prizes amounting to a total Rs.10 lakhs were distributed by Shri R S Munirathinam, Chairman, Lakshmikanthamma Educational Trust and by Shri M Vijayakaumar, IAS, Member Secretary, Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu. Present on the occasion of the closing ceremony were Shri J C D Prabhakar, MLA, President, All India Chess Federation, Shri D V Sundar, Vice President, FIDE and Shri K Muralimohan, General Secretary, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, Shri S Ganesan, Chairman, Organising Committee.

Final Placings: (Indians unless specified)

1. Yu Ruiyuan (China) 9,

2-5. Aleksandrov Aleksej (Belarus), Akshayraj Kore (India), Gomez John Paul (Philippines), Kravtsiv Martyn (Ukraine), Marat Dzhumaev (Uzbekistan) 8.5,

6-17. Oleksienko Mikhailo (Ukraine), S P Sethuraman, Hoang Thanh Trang (Hungary), V Vishnu Prasanna, Zeng Chongsheng (China), P Karthikeyan, J Deepan Chakkravarthy, T U Navin Kanna, S Nitin, Ankit R Rajpara, Barbosa Oliver (Philippines), R R Laxman 8, 18-20 Ziaur Rahman (Bangladesh), Vaibhav Suri, Ma Qun (China) 7.5 pts etc.

R R Vasudevan
Press Officer
SDAT – RMK 4th Chennai Open 2012 International Grandmaster Chess Tournament