Grandmaster Pendyala Harikrishna finished the Master's section of 13th Abu Dhabi Chess festival in style, defeating World junior champion Grandmaster Shakhyriyaz Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan in the final round of the tournament, which concluded on Tuesday.
Grandmaster Gabriel Sargissian of Armenia won the tournament with a hard-fought draw against compatriot and top seed Smbat Lputian.
Sargissian tallied seven points and was a half point ahead of his nearest rivals.
Harikrishna ended with a creditable tie for the second place along with Luptian, GM Pavel Kotsur of Kazakhstan and GM Vasily Yemelin of Russia.
GM Abhijit Kunte of India, GM Evgeny Vladimirov of Kazakhstan, GM Merab Gagunashvili of Georgia, IM Bagheri Amir of Iran and Uzbeks GM Alexei Barsov IM and Tahir Vakhidov scored six points apiece and took the joint sixth spot.
Once the youngest Grandmaster of the country, Harikrishna came up with successive victories in last two rounds to find himself in the top group. Apart from the prize-money, Harikrishna will also add 10 Elo rating points to his present rating. The Andhra boy is expected to scale to the 2575 bracket in the next FIDE rating list.
The Indian star outclassed Shakhriyaz in a queen's gambit declined with white pieces.
Harikrishna said, "He sacrificed a pawn and initiated a pawn storm in king side, but I managed to retrieve my queen just in time. The passed pawns on queenside proved decisive in this game."
Harikrishna beat back the attack with deft defense and exchanged queens to romp home.
Abhijit Kunte defeated GM Elmar Magerramov of Azerbaijan in a keenly contested match. The opening was a kings Indian defense that saw Magerramov adopt an unusual line to avoid a theory.
Kunte went for the exchange of pieces and retained a slight edge that proved sufficient. Speaking about the game, he said, "When both rooks were exchanged the minor piece endgame gave me the advantage."
In the final stages, an advanced king and active knights gave the British champion a brilliant victory.
Sandipan Chanda drew with GM Rausis Igors of Bangladesh and took his tally to 5.5 points.
Sandipan said, "I had the better position from the opening but I misplayed and in the rook and pawn ending I had to play precisely to attain a draw."
Chandrashekhar Gokhale drew his game against GM Kengis Edvins of Latvia and took his tally to 4.5 points for a 50 per cent finish while Tejas Bakre lost to IM El Arousy Abdul Hameed of Egypt.
The other Indian in the fray, Manthan Chokshi drew with Yehya Ahmed of Egypt to finish on four points.
Important results (final round) (Indians unless specified):
Smbat Lputian (6.5, Arm) drew Gabriel Sargissian (7, Arm); Pavel Kotsur (6.5, Kaz) drew Vasily Yemelin (6.5, Rus); Merab Gagunashrilim (6, Geo) drew Evgeny Vladimirov (6, Kaz); P Harikrishna (6.5) beat Mamedyarov Shakhriyaz (5.5, Aze); Jobava Baadur (6, Geo) drew Goran Dizdar (5.5, Cro); Valeri Neverov (5, Ukr) lost to Amir Bagheri (6, Iri); Leksandr Poluljahov (5.5, Rus) drew Ahmed Adly (5.5, Egy); Ramil Hasangatin (5, Rus) lost to Tahir Vakhidov (6, Uzb); Alexei Barsov (6, Uzb) beat Dmitry Svetushkin (5, Mda); Elmar Magerramov (5, Aze) lost to Abhijit Kunte (6); Sandipan Chanda (5.5) drew Igors Rausis (5, Ban); Javad Maherrmszad (5, Aze) drew Mikheil Mchedlishvili (5, Geo); Sergey Kasparov (5, Rus) drew ElGindy Essam (5, Egy); Ghaem Maghami (5.5, Iri) beat Sergey Kayumov (4.5, Uzb); Saidali Yuldashev (5.5) beat Niaz Murshed (4.5); Chandrashekhar Gokhale (4.5) drew Edvins Kengis (4.5, Lat); El Arousy Abdul Hamed (5, Egy) beat Tejas Bakre (4); Manthan Chokshi (4) drew Yehya Ahmed (3.5, Egy).
