Jha qualifies for world chess

International master Sriram Jha clinched a facile win against Ashraf Ahmed of Maldives in the final round of the Asian Zone 3.2 Chess Championship and qualified for the World Cup on Monday.

Jha scored 10 points out of possible 12 to emerge winner at the Airport Authority of India Club. Jha,who was unbeaten throughout the event,also earned his second Grandmaster norm in the process.

Jha,who is rated ELO 2459,gained 20 ELO points from along with the winner’s purse of $ 1000.

Its the best thing to have ever happened to me in chess, the 33-year-old said.

I am feeling on top of the world.

The World Cup will be held in Khanty-Mansiysk,Russia from November 20 to December 15.

Veteran GM Praveen Thipsay finished second with 9.5 points by beating HLM Hapuarachchi of Sri Lanka in the final round encounter while another Indian IM K Rathnakaran succumbed under pressure against Tunveer Gillani of Pakistan.

Rathnakaran and second seed Deepan Chakkravarthy tied for third spot but better tiebreak score helped Rathanakran to take the third spot with 9 points.

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On other tables,Amir Karim of Pakistan defeated Surbir Lama of Nepal while top seed Ziaur Rahman and Neelotpal Das split point and GM Reefat Bin-Sattar easily won the match against Kesav Malla of Bhutan.

Final Standings: (1) IM Sriram Jha with 10 points (2) GM Praveen Thipsay with 9.5 points (3) IM K Rathnakaran with 9 points (4) GM Deepan Chakkravarthy with 9 points (5) GM Neelotpal Das with 8 points (6) GM Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh with 8 points (7) Reefat Bin-Sattar of Bangladesh with 6.5 points (8) Tunveer Gillani of Pakistan with 6 points (9) Amir Karim of Pakistan with 4.5 points (10) Surbir Lama of Nepal with 3.5 points (11) Hapuarachchi HLM of Sri Lanka with 3 points (12) Ahmed Ashraf of Maldives with 1 points (13) Kesav Malla of Bhutan with 0 points.

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