BELAGUER, July 25: Neelotpal Das missed his third International Master norm by a whisker when he lost to team-mate P Konguvel and failed to gain a commanding position after the ninth and final round of the Belaguer International Chess Tournament, here, yesterday.The Indian contingent had a lot to cheer otherwise as six Indians figured in the prize list at the close. Not even the host country could manage as many prize winners.
IM's Konguvel and Sasikiran defeated Das and Rahul Shetty respectively to score seven points each to tied for the first to seventh places. Das, Shetty, Sandipan Chanda and V Saravanan finished on six points to tie for the 11th to 16th places.
After the month-long tour of Spain, Konguvel and Shetty proceed to Koszalin (Poland) to participate in the MK Cafe Cup, while Sasikiran flies off to Torquay (Britain) to play the British Championship.
Final round results:
GM Psakhis (7) drew IM Herrera (7), GM Komljenovic (7) drew GM Becerra (7), Sandipan Chanda (6) lost to IMGeorgiev (7), IM K Sasikiran (7) bt Rahul Shetty (6), IM P Konguvel (7) bt Neelotpal Das (6), GM A Baburin (6.5) bt IM Mollov (5.5), IM Dublan (6.5) bt GM Forintas (5.5), IM Garbisu (6.5) bt GM Westerinen (5.5), V Saravanan (6) bt Borrego Mata (5), Martinez Lopez (5) lost to Roktim Bandhopadhyay (6), Portuguez Rodrigues (5) drew SS Ganguly (5) 1-7
Placings: 1-7: Psakhis, Komljenovic, Becerra, Herrera, Konguvel, Sasikiran and Georgiev 7 points each; 8-10: Dublan, Baburin and Garbisu 6.5 each. 11-16: Chanda, Karolyi, Das, Shetty, Ranola and Saravanan 6 each.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
