Technical issue strips Harsha Bharathkoti of Spain chess title

The old system of playing tiebreaker play-offs is the reason why GM Harsha Bharathkoti's International Open de Sants was awarded to his opponent.

GM Harsha Bharathkoti had won the Warakomska memorial tournament in Poland last month.

GM Harsha Bharathkoti did not become the International Open de Sants champion due to a technical issue in Spain on Sunday as reported.

"In chess-results it is mentioned that final ranking as Harsha first but it seems there is a old system of playing tiebreaker play-offs in the tournament for the title," Hardha's coach NVS Ramaraju informed today.

"As we were not aware at all due to many issues like language and google translate on website. We didn’t realise the tiebreaker due to which Harsha was not present at the tiebreaks and his opponent was awarded the title. It is unfortunate."

It was reported yesterday that he won the tournament with 8.5 points and also picked a cash prize of 3000 Euros.