Nihal Sarin gets past champion Bardiya, takes WC spot

Nihal Sarin defeated overnight leader Daneshvar Bardiya in the ninth and last round but it was not enough to clinch the Asian Continental chess title. Nihal and Bardiya finished on seven points each in the Swiss League tournament at Al Ain, UAE, on Thursday. The 18-year-old Iranian, seeded 12th, edged out the top-seeded Indian on the basis of playing against opponents with higher average rating than that of Nihal’s (Elo 2592 vs Elo 2515). Nihal finished runner-up.The tournament offered 10 spots for the 206-player FIDE knockout World Cup scheduled later this year. Six Indians from this event clinched these spots. Iniyan P, Raja Rithivik, SL Narayanan, M Pranesh (6.5 points each) and GB Harshvardhan (6) joined Nihal by finishing fifth to ninth in that order. IM Harshvardhan (Elo 2441) is not a GM yet. According to India team coach Pravin Thipsay, even the 11th finisher Murali Karthikyean is expected to get a World Cup seat as “the continental champion is seeded”. The Russians were playing in this event for the first time after changing their affiliation from Europe to the Asian federation. Hence the World Cup quota from the continental meet was increased from eight to 10 players this time. The women’s event saw a heartbreak for India as 38th seed WGM Srija Seshadri came close but finished fifth after drawing with Valentina Gunina of Russia in the last round. Only the top-two finishers won a spot in the 103-player Women’s World Cup. Pragg beats Wesley in Superbet Classic Bucharest: Indian grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa shot into sole lead, defeating Wesley SO of the United States in the 8th round of Superbet Classic, a part of the Grand Chess tour.