After moving its affiliation from Europe to Asia earlier this year, Russia scored its biggest moment on the continental chessboard on Friday. That was thanks solely to Aleksey Grebnev.
After claiming the Tata Steel Asian junior title in the afternoon, Grebnev, playing under the FIDE flag, added another championship before the day ended by claiming the blitz title to bring some cheer to Russian chess.
For the host, it was the girls who brought joy. After G. Teswaini claimed the championship in the classical event, Bommini Mounika Akshaya won the blitz title.
Important results (ninth round, Indians unless specified): Open: Ayush Sharma 6.5 drew with S. Rohith Krishna 6.5; Aleksey Grebnev (FIDE) 7 bt Alekhya Mukhopadhyay 5.5; S. Aswath 7 bt Sambit Panda 5.5; Ajay Parvathareddy 6 drew with Manish Cristiano 6; L. Srihari 5.5 lost to Mayank Chakraborty 6.5; Dilshan Liyanage (SL) 5.5 drew with Zhangir Bizhigitov (Kaz) 5.5; Tahsin Zia (Ban) 6 bt Dhyey Agarwal 5; L.R. Srhari 5.5 drew with Kushagra Mohan 5; N.B. Hari Madhavan 5.5 bt Vrashank Chouhan 4.5.
The standings: 1-2. Aleksey Grebnev (FIDE) and S. Aswath 7; 3-5. S. Rohith Krishna, Ayush Sharma and Mayank Chakraborty 6.5; 6-8. Manish Cristiano, Tahsin Zia and Ajay Parvathareddy 6; 9-19. Sambit Panda, Ritvik Krishnan, Gilbert Tarigan (Ina), Dilshan Liyanage (SL), L.R. Srihari, G.B. Harshavardhan, L. Srihari, Alekhya Mukhopadhyay, Abilmansur Abdilkhair (Kaz), N.B. Hari Madhavan and Zhangir Bizhigitov (Kaz) 5.5.
Girls: Bommini Mounika Akshaya 6.5 drew with G. Tejaswini 7.5; Bristy Mukherjee 7 bt Nazerke Nurgali (Kaz) 6; Mrudul Dehankar 6 drew with Saina Salonika 6; Ayaulym Kaldarova (Kaz) 5.5 lost to Mrittika Mallick 6.5; Anastasia Ivanova (FIDE) 5.5 lost to V. Rindhiya 6; Shubhi Gupta 5.5 drew with Bhagyashree Patil 5.5; Keerti Reddy 5.5 drew with M.K. Poorna Sri 5.5; Mohitha Vakcheri 5 drew with Zeinep Sultanbek (Kaz) 5; H.G. Pragnya 5.5 bt Wadifa Ahmed (Ban) 4.5; Sherali Pattnaik 4.5 lost to Sachi Jain 5.5.
The standings: 1. G. Tejaswini 7.5; 2. Bristy Mukherjee 7; 3-4. Bommini Mounika Akshaya and Mrittika Mallick 6.5; 5-8. Saina Salonika, Nazerke Nurgali (Kaz), V. Rindhiya and Mrudul Dehankar 6; 9-17. Keerti Reddy, Shubhi Gupta, Ayaulym Kaldarova (Kaz), Bhagyashree Patil, M.K. Poorna Sri, Anastasia Ivanova (FIDE), H.G. Pragnya, Sachi Jain and Masanam Divyabharathi 5.5.
Blitz: The standings: Open: 1-2. Aleksey Grebnev (FIDE) and Kushagra Mohan 7.5; 3-4. Manish Cristiano and Mayank Chakraborty 6.5; 5-13. L.R. Srihari, Ayush Sharma, Zhangir Bizhigitov (Kaz), N.B. Hari Madhavan, B. Vignesh, Gilbert Tarigan (Ina), Dilshan Liyanage (SL), Kartik Kumar Singh and Yash Bharadia 6.
Girls: 1. Bommini Mounika Akshaya 7.5; 2-5. Bhagyashree Patil, Bristy Mukherjee, Zeinep Sultanbek and V. Rindhiya; 6. Mrittika Mallick 6.5; 7-9. Saina Salonika, A. Charvi and S. Pournami 6; 10-16. L. Jyothsna, Nezerke Nurgali (Kaz), Samantha Editho (Ina), Mrudul Dehankar, A. Sasvatha, G. Tejaswini and Ivanova Anastasia (FIDE).
