INDIA’Sdominance in chess continued unabated with Grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram winning the first major title of his career after finishing ahead of established names including compatriotRPraggnanandhaa at thePragueMasters tournament here on Friday. The 25-year-old Aravindh ended the tournament with six points after settling for a draw withGurel Ediz ofTurkeyin the ninth and final round. WorldNo8Praggnanandhaa finished tied second with five pointsafterlosing toDutchman Anish Giri. Tamil Nadu’s Aravindh ended on six points out of a possible nine after his three victories and six draws in the tournament.

 

Aravindh chose the solid Caro Kann to counter Ediz’s King pawn and the Turkish youngster went for the Advance variation. Aravindh had to part with a pawn early in the opening but the complications remained as white had a fractured king side and the extra pawn on the other flank was not of much use. The players repeated several times during the first time control and Gurel realized that it was not so easy to force matters. “I have not slept well in the last two days,Iwas completely fine till theseventhroundand then I got this lead and there was pressure,” Aravindh said. The champion also praised his mentor and coach Grandmaster RBRamesh and singled out his game against Anish Giri as his best effort in the tournament.