KOLKATA: Alexander Grischuk turned out to be a winner all the way.
The Russian Grandmaster not only claimed the Tata Steel Chess India blitz tournament but also won the hearts of Indian chess fans with his great sense of humour at the Bhasha Bhawan in the National Library of India campus here on Saturday. If it's blitz, then it has to be Grischuk as the three-time world blitz champion (in 2006, 2012 and 2015) taught the youngsters a lesson or two in the shortest format of the game by ending up with 12 points in the 18-double round tournament.
"It's been for y ears that I won something significant," Grischuk confided. "You don't know how tired I was of losing," he added with a straight face.
Overnight leader R Praggnanandhaa failed to carry on the momentum and suffered three defeats in the day to end third with 11 points. GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan also staged a great recovery winning six games to pip Prag (also on 11) on tie-breaks and finished runner-up. He thus ended third in both the rapid and blitz events.
