INDIAN Grandmaster Raunak Sadhwani finished a creditable second in the Silver Lake Chess Festival-202 which concluded at Velika Sala, Danubia Hotela, Srebrno Jezero in Serbia, on Wednesday. In the ninth and final round, Nagpur’s Sadhwani played out an easy draw with International Master Kourkoulos-Arditis Stamatis of Greece. Another Indian Grandmaster Nihal Sarin won the title with eight points from maximum nine rounds. Sadhwani, GM Abhimanyu Puranik and Kazakhastan’s Makhnev Denis all finished the competition with seven points each but the Nagpur lad finished with better tie-break points and was declared second best in the competition.

 

Sadhwani, playing with white peices on the second board, called it truce with the 10th seed opponent. Sadhwani was satisfied with his performance and said it was amazing to be back playing over the board competition after such a long gap. “I am happy with my second place finish. It was a very strong field and to finish on second spot is very satisfying,” said Sadhwani while talking with ‘The Hitavada’ from Serbia. “It was amazing to return to over the board chess.

 

I have always said that I would prefer over the board chess than the online one. I am happy with my performance and the quality of the games I played. I think I can play much more high level chess in my upcoming tournaments,” added Sadhwani. The 15-year-old also thanked the organisers for inviting him for the prestigious competition. “I thank the organisers of Silver lake for inviting me,” he said. In the eighth round, Sadhwani roared back after three draws to beat Serbian International Master 14th seed Boskovic Drasko on table number four. That win kept him in title hunt but Sarin’s victory over his rival assured him the title. Sadhwani won 600 Euros for his second place finish.