NAGPUR: Raunak Sadhwani remained unbeaten to emerge champion in the La Nucia Open international chess tournament in Alicante, Spain, on Sunday.
In the eight-day nine-round classical tournament played in the Swiss league with a time control of 90 minutes, city first Grandmaster (GM) gave a performance rating of 2786 Elo to finish on top of the table collecting eight points. The 17-year-old Raunak won seven rounds and drew two boards to emerge triumphant with a margin of one clear point.
A total of 85 masters from 14 countries participated in the meet.
After starting his campaign with an easy win over FM Galvan Jesus of Peru, the 2611 Elo Raunak defeated Spain's Mingarro Carceller Sergi and 11th seeded GM Narciso Dublan Marc before getting the better of ninth seed Italian GM Stella Andrea and share the lead at the end of fourth round.
In the fifth round, seed no 2 Raunak utilized his opening advantage with the white pieces well to hold top seeded Armenian GM Grigoryan Karen and jump to sole lead.
Thereafter there was no looking for Maharashtra's youngest GM as he posted two successive victories to maintain the lead. He outplayed 15th seed Spanish GM Moskalenko Viktor and Bulgarian GM Dimitrov Radoslav to take a one-point advantage.
Playing it safe, Raunak drew the penultimate round with Cuban IM Fernandez Ernesto. In the ninth and final round, Raunak made light work of third seeded Spanish GM Yuffa Daniil to emerge champion in style.
On his title triumph Raunak said, "It's a joyful moment for me. Nothing in the world can beat the pleasure of winning tournaments. I am happy that I played some good chess and was consistent throughout the event. Played some aggressive chess and also defended and handled positions quite well. I hope to continue this form in the near future on my chess skills by working even more harder."
