NAGPUR: City's first Grandmaster (GM) Raunak Sadhwani proved his mettle by winning silver in the second leg of summer classic tournament organized by Saint Louis Chess Club at Missouri in the USA on Friday.
In the 10-player round robin tournament played over nine days, 17-year-old Raunak collected 5.5 points to finish second. On his way, the 2608 Elo Raunak won three games, drew five boards and lost the third-round contest to eventual champion Nikolas Theodorou of Greece marginally by half-point difference.
Raunak started his campaign with back-to-back drawn games against American GM John M Burke and Aram Hakobyan of Armenia respectively.
In the fourth round, Raunak drew with US Junior champion and young Indian American GM Abhimanyu Mishra before stunning 2640 ELO US GM Dariusz Swiercz and compatriot V Pranav in the following games.
After a seventh-round draw with Netherlands GM Benjamin Bok, Raunak stunned higher rated Ukraine's 2642 Elo GM Nyzhnyk Illya in the penultimate round. With a handy advantage, Raunak split the points with experienced Indian GM Sasikiran Krishnan to finish second in one of the strong tournaments.
Raunak gave a performance rating of 2688 and earned eight international rating points.
After winning the Serbia Open, Raunak was invited by the Saint Louis Chess Club. Raunak said, "Consistency is very important part in any sports. I am really happy with my consistent performance after Serbia Masters. I tried my best to score half a point more to emerge champion against this strong field but was unable to do it this time and have to satisfy myself with the second position. I will work hard, stay focused towards my goals and give my best in my upcoming tournaments this year."
