Kanpur (03 Mar 22) :- Second seed Telangana Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi becomes National Chess Champion after signing the peace treaty with former champion Sethuraman S P of PSPB in the eleventh and final round of the MPL 58th Senior National Championship which conclude here at Ganges Club on Thursday. Follow us on facebook and twitter.
Scoring 8.5 points out of a possible 11, Arjun tied for the title with Tamil Nadu Grandmasters duo D Gukesh and P Iniyan but better Buchholz tie break score helped Arjun to lift the champion trophy while Gukesh and Iniyan finished as first and second runner up respectively. In the final round, Gukesh split the point with Delhi Grandmaster Aryan Chopra while Iniyan produced a decisive result against Mitrabha Guha of West Bengal.
While Arjun got richer by Rs.6,00,000/-, Gukesh got Rs. 5,00,000/- and Iniyan took Rs. 4,00,000/- from the total kitty of thirty lakh prize money.
In a colourful closing ceremony, BCCI Vice President Shri Rajiv Shukla gave away the trophies and prize money cheques in presence of Dr Sanjay Kapoor, President All India Chess Federation, Shri Vijay Kapoor, Chairman Ganges Club, Shri Naresh Sharma, Treasurer All India Chess Federation, Shri AK Raizada, Secretary UP Chess Sports Association.
Final Standings (Top Ten with Prize Money):-
Champion : GM Erigaisi Arjun of Telangana – Rs. 6,00,000/-
1st Runner-Up : GM Gukesh D of Tamil Nadu – Rs. 5,00,000/-
2nd Runner-Up : GM Iniyan P of Tamil Nadu – Rs. 4,00,000/-
4th : GM Aravindh Chithambaram of Tamil Nadu – Rs.3,00,000/-
5th : GM Aryan Chopra of Delhi – Rs. 2,50,000/-
6th : IM Koustav Chatterjee of West Bengal – Rs. 2,50,000/-
7th : GM Karthikeyan Murali of PSPB – Rs. 2,00,000/-
8th : GM Visakh N R of Railways – Rs. 2,00,000/-
9th : GM Sethuraman S P of PSPB – Rs. 1,50,000/-
10th : IM Pranav of Tamil Nadu – Rs. 1,50,000/-