Kunte completes grand double

KOZHIKODE, March 15: Abhijit Kunte of India completed a sweet double in the Indian Independence Golden Jubilee Grandmaster tournament today ...

KOZHIKODE, March 15: Abhijit Kunte of India completed a sweet double in the Indian Independence Golden Jubilee Grandmaster tournament today when he won the trophy and also his round robin GM norm. In the 11th and last round at Hotel Hyson Heritage, Kunte, a trainee sportsman with Indian Oil Corporation, Pune, held his own with black pieces against Krishnan Sasikiran and drew in 42 moves to reach 7.5 points.

Kunte now has a nine-round Swiss norm from the Asian junior and a 11-game round robin norm from here. Sasikiran declined a draw offer by Kunte at the start and also during the course of the game. Subsequently, Kunte got better and could even have won the Nimzo-Indian Defence game but white escaped thrugh repetition of moves. The game had been simplified to an open position by move 15 and then Kunte won a pawn to reach a rook and knight ending.

A beaming Kunte, who telephoned his parents immediately after his triumph, said he dedicated this double success to his parents, Prakash and Meena Kunte, who“have encouraged” him throughout. Kunte also paid special tributes to his sister Mrunalini Kunte, a former national woman champion who helped him in his preparations and his first coach Mohan Phadke.

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“I am sorry that I could not fulfill Phadke’s wish that I should be a GM before turning 21,” he said. This was Kunte’s first GM tournament victory and his second international success after his Asian junior title win in Jaipur last year. The 21-year-old bagged Rs 80,000 for the victory and the trophy.

Bangladesh’s Zia-ur Rahman finished second with seven points and took home Rs 48,000 after scoring a lucky win over K Murugan of India in the last round. Sasikiran and Leonid Yurtaev (Kirgystan) tied for the third-fourth places and finished in that order for a shared purse of Rs 56,000 (Rs 28,000 each).

Placings: 1 Abhijit Kunte, 2 Zia-ur Rahman, 3 K Sasikiran, 4 Leonid Yurtaev, 5 D Barua, 6 Adianto, 7 P Konguvel, 8 Lanka Ravi, 9 Komliakov, 10 D V Prasad, 11 Praveen Thipsay 12 K Murugan.

KSasikiran (India) 6.5 drew with Abhijit Kunte (India) 7.5, K Murugan (India) 3.5 lost to Zia-ur Rahman (Bangladesh) 7, L Yurtaev (Kirgystan) 6.5 bt Komliakov (Moldova) 5, Lanka Ravi (India) 5 lost to D Barua (India) 6, P Thipsay (India) 4 drew with D V Prasad (India) 4, P Konguvel (India) 5 bt Adianto (Indonesia) 6.

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