Alisher Suleymenov wins Chola Chess GM Norm Round Robin, Ethan Vaz second, Ameya Audi third
Devansh Singh·3 min read
Kazakh Grandmaster Alisher Suleymenov is the Champion of the Chola Chess GM Norm Round Robin Tournament. Alisher drew against IM Ameya Audi in the final round in a hard-fought battle, sealing the tournament victory with 6/9 points. IM Ethan Vaz secured second place with 5.5/9 points and a better tiebreak score than IM Ameya Audi, who lost his game against Ethan in round 2 of the event. Ameya scored 5.5/9 points to secure third place, but he barely missed his GM norm by half a point as his last game against Alisher ended in a draw. The event was successfully organized at Chola Chess, Chennai, from 3rd to 11th February. Photos: Chola Chess/Himank Ghosh
Ameya Audi played some beautiful chess throughout the event; he lost just one game against Ethan Vaz in the second round and had 3 wins and 5 solid draws. In the last round, it was his chance to score a GM norm and clinch the title, but Alisher played some solid chess and held him for a draw. Ameya missed his norm by half a point, but the way he played is definitely going to motivate him for his next events.
The Champion!!
IM Ameya Audi scored 5.5/9 and increased his rating by 18 points | Photo: Chola Chess
Champion of the Event, GM Alisher Suleymenov, lost his only game against Ethan and scored 4 wins and drew 4 games. Alisher increased his rating by 12 points and the prize of ₹1,00,000 | Photo: Chola Chess
Ethan Vaz secured the second place and the prize of ₹75,000 | Photo: Chola Chess
Top 3 Finishers | Photo: Chola Chess
The inaugural move was played by 5-time World Champion, Grandmaster Vishy Anand, who came as the Chief guest for the final day | Photo: Himank Ghosh
Vishy Anand with Kanika Subbiah and GM RB Ramesh | Photo: Himank Ghosh
Beautiful Trophy and Memorabilia
Some moments before the start of the last round | Photo: Himank Ghosh
The team behind the successful completion of the event: Left to right- Mr Narendra Kumar, Mrs Kanika Subbiah, Mr Nitin Shenvi, Mr Bhaskar.v, Mr Viswanathan Anand, Mr Paul, Arokia Raj S, and GM RB Ramesh | Photo: Himank Ghosh
Some fun moments during the closing ceremony | Photo: Himank Ghosh
Chess players and Analysis: 'A never-ending love story.'
Viswanathan Anand in Chola Chess for the inauguration of the last round | Video: Chola Chess
Ethan secured the 2nd place and increased his rating by 4 points, taking his live rating to 2522 | Photo: Himank Ghosh
Ethan Vaz vs Harsh Suresh Round 9 (1-0)
Ameya Audi secured the third place with 5.5/9, and barely missed his GM norm | Photo: Himank Ghosh
Mayank Chakraborty scored 5/9 points to get the 5th place, and he increased his rating by 5 points | Photo: Himank Ghosh
Aronyak Ghosh lost 1 game, won 2, and drew his other rounds to score 5/9 | Photo: Himank Ghosh
It wasn't Akshay's best performance at this event, as he was not able to win any game, but he's going to come back stronger now. | Photo: Himank Ghosh
IM Harsh Suresh had a tough time at the event as he lost 11 rating points. The lessons learnt from this event are definitely going to help him in the next events
An interview with Supercoaches RB Ramesh and Aarthie | Video: Chessbase India
Watch the live commentary of the last round | Video: Chessbase India
