Mumbai: India’s Grandmaster SL Narayanan finished second in the Riga Technical University Open Classical Chess Championship in Riga, Latvia, ending half-a-point behind winner Alexander Donchenko of Germany.
In the ninth and final round of the event, Narayanan was held to a draw agreed to an early draw with Ilia Smirin of Israel while Donchenko got the better of overnight joint leader Kovalenko of Latvia on the top board with black pieces.
Donchenko, who had reached the top spot by winning five games in a row, was clubbed together with Kovalenko and Narayanan after the eighth round. By beating the Latvian, Donchenko finished with 7.5 points from a possible nine and claimed the first prize while Narayanan ended at second spot with three others at seven points.
He finished ahead of Tomas Laurusas of Lithuania, Kantor Gergely of Hungary, and compatriot Karthikeyan Murali on a better tiebreak. Laurusas finished third, Gergely fourth, and Karthikeyan fifth.
Among the other Indians in this tournament, Kalyan Arjun finished eighth with 6.5 points, Pranav Anand ended 11th while Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu ended 13.
SP Sethuraman finished at the 16th spot with Arjun Erigaisi (17th) and Nihal Sarin (18th) following close behind.
