From The Hindu Newspaper

Parimarjan Negi wins the Malaysian Open

NEW DELHI: Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi pulled off last-round victory over overnight leader Emmanuel Senador of the Philippines to clinch the prestigious Dato Arthur Tan Malaysian Open chess title in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.

The 16-year-old, the second youngest Grandmaster ever, scored seven points from this tough nine-round competition.

Filipino Ronald Dableo matched Negi’s tally but was placed second due to inferior tiebreak score.

For Negi, the triumph was second in as many tournaments in the past five weeks. Last month, the youngster had won the final round of the Politiken Cup to emerge as champion at Helsingor, Denmark.

After eight rounds, Negi headed a nine-player pack sharing the second spot with six points, half a point behind Senador. In the final round, barring Negi and Dableo, none could enhance their tally to seven points.

“It is always nice to finish any tournament with a win. But the victory is sweeter when it ensures the title,” said a jubilant Negi to The Hindu.

Negi, whose new rating on September 1 is likely to be a career-best 2615, stands to gain a further 10 points from his latest title-winning performance.

Tough tournament

“It was a tough tournament with a tight schedule. I was quite happy with the quality of my games and I am glad it ended well,” he said.

“My toughest game was against Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (seeded four from Iran) in the eighth round,” said Negi. “I had a good position but I did not capitalise on it. Then I reached a (bad) position before I managed to draw the game.”

About the crucial final round, Negi was not stretched with black pieces and he easily proved his superiority in this Moro Gambit game to take the title.

Supported by the Tata Group, Negi has now won or shared five titles since May last year besides finishing runner-up in the World junior championship. This Class XI student’s next outing will be in the 10-round Kolkata Open beginning on September 1.

Sriram Jha, seeded 16th, tallied five points for the 30th place.

Negi’s round-wise results: Parimarjan Negi bt Shayesteh Ghader Pour (Iri, 2171); bt Yevgeniy Pak (Kaz, 2359), drew with Ashot Nadanian (Arm, 2441); drew with Sriram Jha (2459); bt Zhang Xiaowen (Chn, 2391); bt Gao Rui (Chn, 2491); drew with Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (Vie, 2592); drew with Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (Iri, 2589); bt Emmanuel Senador (Phi, 2372).