Indian Grandmaster SL Narayanan has also won the Grandiscchi Cattolica International Chess Open title. At the same time, his compatriot R Pragyanand was also the runner-up. Six other players, including Narayanan and Pragyananand, had the same 6.5 points after nine rounds. Narayanan has secured the top position on the basis of better tie-break score.
Top seed Narayanan never lost in all the nine rounds. He drew in the ninth and final round against Pierre Luigi Basso of Italy. They have amassed 6.5 points from a total of four wins and five draws. Narayanan has also won against Alex Doboletta of Italy, compatriot Akshat Khamparia, Jobova Badur (Georgia) and Sergei Azarov of Belarus.
Pragyanand also ended his campaign with 4 wins and 5 draws. They also have wins over Saut Nurgaliev (Kazakhstan), Nicolas Wachinger (Germany), Lukas Van Forrest (Netherlands) and Meruart Kamlidanova (Kazakhstan). Pragyanand shared points with Italy's Lorenzo Lodisi in the final round. India's International Master Pranav Anand has finished ninth with six points, while another Indian, Akshat Khamparia, finished 11th with the same number of points.
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