Sethuraman, Harikrishna finish tied third

It turned out to be a good finish for both Indians although Harikrishna was a touch unlucky not to find himself in tied first place despite being in a better position for the major part of the game against Li Chao B of China.

In round 10, S.P. Sethuraman tied with Etienne Bacrot of France.

Indian Grandmasters S. P. Sethuraman and P. Harikrishna finished joint third in the masters section of Tradewise Gibraltar International Chess Festival, following draws against Etienne Bacrot of France and Li Chao B of China respectively in the final round here.

It turned out to be a good finish for both Indians although Harikrishna was a touch unlucky not to find himself in tied first place despite being in a better position for the major part of the game against Li Chao.

In a gruelling finale, Hikaru Makamura of the United States retained the Gibraltar title for the second time running after winning the tiebreaker against second seed Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France. After beating David Anton Gujarro of Spain in a crushing fashion, Nakamura was at his best in speed chess and won the title with a 3-2 margin.

Vachier had to be content with the second place after tying for first in one of the strongest tournament of the world. The Frenchman accounted for compatriot Sebastian Maze in the final round to set up a match for the winner with Nakamura.

Harikrishna pressed hard for a victory and Li Chao had his back to the wall for most of the game. However, the Chinese did not give up and came up with many moves to eventually find some counter play.

It was a six-way tie for the third spot and Bacrot had the best tiebreak to back him for the third place. Sethuraman ended fourth while Harikrishna was fifth as the tie was resolved but the prize money was equally shared between all tied six players.

Among other Indians in the fray, Abhijeet Gupta won his final round game against Eylon Nakar of Israel to finish tenth on seven points. Vidit Gujrathi was the other Indian to reach seven points and finished among the prize winers after drawing with higher-ranked Dmitry Jakovenko of Russia.

Former world champion Viswanathan Anand ended his campaign on a positive note, defeating Erik Blomqvist of Sweden. Anand ended on 6.5 points in a forgettable campaign.

Amongst the women, Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine proved stronger than the rest as she won her last round game to reach the seven points mark for the top woman prize. Grandmaster D. Harika had to be content with the fifth place in this section while Padmini Rout also finished in the prize list.

Important and Indian results round 10 (Indians unless specified): Hikaru Nakamura (Usa, 8) beat David Anton Guijarro (Esp, 7); Sebastien Maze (Fra, 7) lost to Maxime Vachier—Lagrave (Fra, 8); P Harikrishna (7.5) drew with Li Chao B (Chn, 7.5); Etienne Bacrot (Fra, 7.5) drew with S P Sethuraman (7.5); Yu Yangyi (Chn, 6.5) lost to Gawain Jones (Eng, 7.5); Dmitry Jakovenko (Rus, 7) drew with Vidit Gujrathi (7); Emil Sutovsky (Isr, 7.5) beat Axel Bachmann (Par, 6.5); M R Lalith Babu (6.5) lost to Richard Rapport (Hun, 7.5); Zoltan Almasi (Hun, 7) beat G N Gopal (6.5); Fabien Libiszewski (Fra, 6.5) drew with Surya Shekhar Ganguly (6.5); Eylon Nakar (Isr, 6) lost to Abhijeet Gupta (7); Erik Blomqvist (Swe, 5.5) lost to V Anand (6.5); Sandipan Chanda (6.5) beat Valentina Gunina (Rus, 5.5); Pinho Paulo (Por, 5.5) lost to V Vishnu Prasanna (6.5); Antoaneta Stefanova (Bul, 6.5) beat Prasanna Rao (5.5); Arkadij Naiditsch (Aze, 5.5) drew with Padmini Rout (5.5); Nezad Husein Aziz (Qat, 5) lost to D Harika (6); S Satyapragyan (5) lost to Zhao Xue (Chn, 6); Hauge Lars Oskar (Nor, 5) lost to Aravindh Chithambaram (6); Ralf Akesson (Swe, 5.5) drew with Siva Mahadevan (5.5); S Kidambi (5) drew with Sebastian Mihajlov (Nor, 5); Ripari Marcelo (Arg, 5) drew with Anurag Mhamal (5); Nisha Mohota (4.5) lost to Igor Bitensky (Isr, 5.5); B Pratyusha (5) beat Goncalves Jose Antonio Silvei (Bra, 4).