India's Magesh Chandran wins Hastings International chess title

Chennai: India’s P Magesh Chandran remained unbeaten in nine rounds to win the title in the 95th edition of the prestigious Hastings International Chess Congress in Hastings, England.

The 36-year old Grand Master with a FIDE rating of 2479, remained unbeaten and finished in clear first place with 7.5 points from nine games after securing a 33-move draw in the final round against compatriot G A Stany, also a GM on Sunday.

He beat fellow Indian GM Deep Sengupta in the eighth round. Stany took the sixth place with 6.5 points while India’s woman GM R Vaishali obtained six points to finish 10th. Two other Indians — Deep Sengupta and Swayams Mishra — finished 13th and 14th respectively with identical six points.

France’s Romain Edouard, who was the only player to end the tournament a half-point behind Chandran, took the second spot. Four players shared third to sixth places with 6.5 points.

The US-based Chandran posted six wins and secured three draws to take the top spot. He outscored a field that included two players with a 2600-plus ELO rating and five in the 2500-plus category.

He was delighted with his performance and rated the win over compatriot Deep Sengupta as his best in the tournament.

“It is great (to win the tournament). I haven’t had such a performance in a long time,” Chandran, who hails from Madurai in Tamil Nadu, told PTI.

“The game against Deep Sengupta won the best game award. I also liked the game I won against David Howell,” he added.

Chandran, who currently lives in North Carolina, USA, and has a chess academy, said he plans to play more events this year. The Indian had become a GM in 2006 and moved to the US for higher studies at the University of Texas.