CHENNAI: Abhijeet Gupta bagged a hat-trick of titles at the Commonwealth Chess Championship at New Delhi on Monday. Abhijeet, who had triumphed in 2015 and 2016, sealed the title with an emphatic victory over IM Aleksandar Wohl in the ninth and final round. It was Abhijeet’s fourth title overall as he had won in 2013, which helped him surpass former England No 1 Nigel Short’s three titles, and become the most successful Commonwealth champion.
Remaining unbeaten, Abhijeet (7.5/9) won the tournament with a + 6 score. He had the best performance rating of 2652 and gained six rating points. Vaibhav Suri and Tejas Bakre (both 7) clinched silver and bronze to make a clean sweep of podium places. Nine players finished in the top 10 to show India’s complete domination in a tournament consisting of nine countries. Local player Vaibhav had a chance to tie for first spot but could only manage a draw against Abhijit Kunte in the last round.
Abhijeet has one of the best records among Indians in winning international Open events. Winning the Reykjavik Open in 2016 was one of the high points of his career. He also bagged an individual silver for India at the 2012 Chess Olympiad.
“He has won many strong Open tournaments like Rejkyavik Open, Dubai Open and bagged the Commonwealth title for the last three years. It is not easy to win Open tournaments consistently. Hope he will cross the 2700 rating barrier soon,” lauded India coach RB Ramesh on Abhijeet’s hat-trick of titles in the Commonwealth Championship.
IM V Saravanan observed candidly: “Abhijeet being a good friend of mine, I will even stretch myself and say that, for a former World junior champion and champion of many Open events, the field this time is hardly a challenge. With a more focussed lifestyle, he should be able to cross the 2700 Elo barrier fast.”
Swati champion
Former national champion and veteran Swati Ghate captured the women’s crown. The 37-year-old had one of her best tournaments, defeating GM Deepan Chakravarthy, besides holding two GMs Ziaur Rahman and Sahaj Grover to draws. She had a big gain in rating (39 points). There was a three-way tie for top spot between Swati, Mary Ann Gomes and Tania Sachdev (all 6) but Swati won the crown because of her better tie-break. Mary Ann and Tania bagged the silver and bronze medals.
Final placings
(Top 5) 1. Abhijeet Gupta (Ind) 7.5, 2-3: Vaibhav Suri, Tejas Bakre (both Ind) 7, 4-5: Abhijit Kunte (Ind), Aleksandar Wohl (Aus) 6.5.