Ukrainian GM Adam Tukhaev, rated 2516, emerged champion of the 2nd IIFL Wealth Mumbai International Open 2016-17 which concluded at the Mount Litera School International in Mumbai. The soft-spoken Ukrainian defeated compatriot GM Vitaliy Bernadskiy in a winner takes all game as the first and the third board games ended in draws. Tukhaev finished first by scoring 7.5/9. He took home Rs. 3 lakhs for winning the tournament.
GM Adam Tukhaev
Seven players tied for second place by scoring 7.0/9.
On the top table, 18-year-old Indian hope GM Diptayan Ghosh settled for a relatively quick draw with the white pieces against IM Rahul Sangma.
The third table game between Ukrainian GM Valeriy Neverov and Belgian GM Vadim Malakhatko ended in a hard-fought draw. Neverov had a poor position but he cleverly traded into a rook ending where he held the draw without sweating too much. While GM Neverov finished second on the tie break with six other players, Ghosh was third.
The biggest surprise of the tournament was untitled Sidhant Mohapatra of Odisha. Sidhant, rated only 2267, scored his second International Master norm and defeated GM Andrei Deviatkin in the final game after the latter blundered an exchange. Besides his norm, Sidhant also finished fifth in the tournament.
WFM Srija Seshadri of Delhi scored an International Master norm by defeating IM Nisha Mohota in the final round. Srija was the most successful female player in the tournament.
Debarshi Mukherjee of West Bengal scored an International Norm as well. Vantika Agarwal, a talented Delhi girl, scored a Women’s International Master norm.