Top-seed Ponkratov wins Chennai Open chess title

Ponkratov finished with eight points from 10 rounds and won the title on the basis of a superior tie-break score.

In a first, the tournament saw an eight way tie for the top spot.

Grand Masters Jose Eduaro Martinez Alcantara (Peru), Sergei Yudin (Russia), Aleksej Aleksandrov (Belarus), Ivan Rozum (Russia), Stanislav Bogdanovich (Ukraine), Kirill Stupak (Belarus) and V Vishnu Prasanna apart from Ponkratov were tied for the top spot with eight points.

International Master norms were achieved by Chennai schoolboy G B Harshavardhan, Jimmy Jubin, V Pranav and S Rohit Krishna while K Priyanka made a WIM Norm.

Ponkratov received the Sakthi Group Dr N Mahalingam Trophy and a cash award of Rs 3 lakh.