10th December 2007 

Grandmaster Ramesh is the Commonwealth Chess Champion

In a thrilling 10th and final round of Parsvnath Commonwealth Chess Championship 2007, which concluded here at Sirifort Sports Auditorium, Grandmaster R.B. Ramesh of India was crowned as the new Commonwealth Chess Champion with a score of 8½.

The former British Open Champion who was in the lead at the half-way stage but lost his way after that, recovered the last ground with a fantastic rear-guard charge to score 3-consecutive wins in the last 3-rounds to become richer by Rs.1,37,500/- In the final round he defeated the overnight joint leader Vikramaditya Kamble with a flawless display of high quality chess.

Top-seeded GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly, also from India, scored a fine win against the joint overnight leader IM Rathnakaran to finish with an identical score of 8½ but had to content with the 2 nd place due to an inferior tie-break. He however; had the consolation of getting the same prize money of Rs. 1,37,500/-

Abhijeet Gupta, who finished his Grandmaster title requirement to become India's 17th Grandmaster, clinched the Bronze Medal with a fantastic performance of 8 points. He bagged the cash prize of Rs.75000/- Abhijeet also won Gold in the Under-20 category.

IM Harika Dronavalli retained her women's title, which she had won at the last edition of this event at Mumbai. She finished 07 th overall in this very strong combined event, which had 13 Men's Grandmasters. By virtue of this performance she got the cash prize of Rs.40000/-. WGM of Tania Sachdev finished behind Harika while WGM Nisha Mohota had to be content with the 3 rd place.

The Indians also dominated the various age-groups categories as their players won 44 of the 45 medals available. GM Gawain Jones of England prevented the clean sweep by winning a Bronze in the Under-20 category.

The Indian players who won the Gold in various categories are; Meghna C.H. (Under-8), Vaibhav Suri (Boys U-10), Sahaj Grover (Boys U-12), Pratyusha Bodda (Girls U-12), Priyadarshan K (Boys U-14), Padmini Rout (Girls U-14), GM Parimarjan Negi (Boys U-16), Pon N Krithika (Girls U-16), P. Karthikeyan (Boys U-18), WIM Kiran Mohanty (Girls U-18), GM Abhijeet Gupta (Boys U-20) and IM S.C. Sahu (Seniors).

Two more Indian players, Pon Krithika and Preethi also earned their 1st Women's International Master norm.

The prize distribution ceremony was presided over by Shri Pradeep Jain, Chairman of Parsvnath Developers Ltd., - the Sponsors of this event. Shri Jain said that "Parsvnath is always very supportive of Chess which is pegged as a 'Thinkers Game'. Our association with Chess championship is to promote the game and take it to the masses. In last six years of our contribution in the game, we have experienced the growing interest of amateurs and eminent players in chess championships. The Parsvnath Commonwealth Championship has emerged as a platform to represent India as the key participant on the global arena." Mr Pradeep Jain, Chairman, Parsvnath Developers Ltd said on the occasion.

The special guest for this event was Mr.Ignatius Leong, General Secretary of FIDE (World Chess Federation).

GM/IM/WIM Norms Rained at Parsvnath Commonwealth 2007!!

The Parsvnath Commonwealth Chess Championship 2007 turned out to be a happy hunting ground for players as norms rained!!

The following 8-players have achieved their GM/IM/WIM Norms:

Men:
1. M.S. Thejkumar (GM & IM Norm)
2. P. Karthikeyan (IM Norm)
3. Shashikant Kutwal (IM Norm)
4. Sahaj Grover (IM Norm)

Women:
1. Nisha Mohota – WGM (IM Norm)
2. Pon N Krithika (WIM Norm)
3. R.Peerthi (WIM Norm)
4. Amrutha Mokal (WIM Norm)

Commonwealth Bronze Medallist, Abhijeet Gupta also became the 17th Grandmaster of the country by completing his rating requirement in the 9th round of this event.

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