Indian GM S L Narayanan wins Cattolica International Open chess tourney

Indian Grandmaster S L Narayanan emerged winner in the Grandiscacchi Cattolica International Open here on Tuesday while his compatriot R Praggnanandhaa finished runner-up.

Narayanan and six others, including Praggnanandhaa, finished equal first on 6.5 points after nine rounds. However, Narayanan took the top spot on the basis of a better tie-break score.

The 24-year old Indian GM, the top-seed, remained unbeaten through the nine rounds. He drew against Pier Luigi Basso (Italy) in the ninth and final round on Tuesday.

He posted four wins and secured five draws to score 6.5 points. The wins came against Italian Alex Dobboletta, compatriot Akshat Khamparia, Jobaova Baadur (Georgia) and Belarusian Sergei Azarov. Among his drawn games, one was against Praggnanandhaa.

Praggnanandhaa too finished with four wins and five draws. He scored wins over Sauat Nurgaliyev (Kazakhstan), Nikolas Wachinger (Germany), Dutchman Lucas Van Foreest and Meruert Kamalidenova (Kazakhstan). In the final round, Praggnanandhaa shared the point with Lorenzo Lodici of Italy.

India's Pranav Anand, an International Master, secured ninth spot with six points while another Indian Akshat Khamparia took the 11th place scoring the same number of points.