Lalit Babu wins Mumbai International Grandmaster Chess Tournament title

India’s Lalit Babu clinched the Mumbai International Grandmaster Chess tournament title after pipping Mamikon Gharibyan of Armenia on the basis of higher tie-break score on Wednesday.
Grandmaster Babu won his ninth and final round match against top seeded Georgian GM Lavin Pantsulaia to accumulate eight points. But, he had to spend some anxious moments as Gharibyan also tallied eight points after winning his final match against Indian GM Neeloptal Das.
However, Babu’s higher tie-break score of 54.5 as compared to Gharibyan’s 54 ensured that the Indian laid his hands on the glittering trophy and took home the winner’s purse of Rs 4 lakh.
Gharibyan’s second-place finish was worth Rs 3 lakh. Another Indian, Deepan Chakravarthy, finished in fifth place, winning Rs 1.25 lakh.
In the juniors’ section, India’s Candidate Master Madhesh Kumar emerged champion after scoring a last-round win over Vyom Malhotra to collect eight points in total.
Teen prodigy Madhesh, who impressed with his calm and focused play, won the title outright and earned Rs 2 lakh.
Advik Agrawal finished runner up and pocketed Rs 1.5 lakhs. Top seed Aansh Nerurkar had to settle for third place and Rs 1 lakh. The fourth and fifth places were secured by CM Madhvendra Pratap Sharma (Rs 75,000) and Jagreet Mishra (Rs 50,000) respectively.
Sannidhi Bhat was adjudged the Best Female Player and won Rs 45,000 plus a trophy, while Rachit Gurnani and Mysha Perwez emerged the best among the Mumbai boys and girls, winning Rs 30,000 each and a trophy respectively.
Results: Grandmasters: Levan Pantsulaia 6.5 lost to Lalit Babu 8; Mamikon Gharibyan 8 bt Neelotpal Das 7; Van Huy Nguyen 7 drew with Manuel Petrosyan 7
Juniors: Madhesh Kumar 8 bt Vyom Malhotra 6.5; Advik Agrawal 7.5 bt Aansh Nerurkar 7.