NAGPUR: With an aim to gain Elo rating points, city’s Fide Master Akash Thakur started his European sojourn in
Schilcherland Open International
chess tournament in Austria.
Thakur got success in his first of the two tournaments that he plans to participate by winning the top position in the Elo 2400 category. Overall, the 35-year-old Thakur finished seventh and earned a prize money of 1000 euros.
With five wins, three draws and a defeat the ninth seeded Thakur finished the nine-round meet in Austria collecting 6.5 points. The tournament saw a participation of 130 masters from 17 countries including two Grandmasters, 11 International Masters and 15 Fide Masters.
“Overall, I played well in this tournament and gained some rating points as well,” a satisfied Thakur told TOI from Austria.
Thakur gave a flying start to his campaign by winning all the initial four rounds with fluent victories over Austrian masters Robert Thier, Reinhard Kuntner, Konstantin Peyrer and
FM Fred Wegerer
.
In the fifth round, Thakur failed to defend well with the black pieces to go down fighting against second seeded GM Kantans Toms of Lettland but fought back in the following rounds. Utilizing his opening advantage with the white pieces well, Thakur held WIM Berke Ana of Croatia in the sixth round and posted a fluent victory over WFM Rozman Monika from Slovenia.
In the penultimate round, Thakur held German GM and fourth seeded Womacka Mathias to a draw and shared the points with Slovenian FM Spalir Jernej in the final round for a satisfactory finish.
“After a good start in the initial rounds, I lost my fifth round contest to an experienced GM and then missed a chance to garner full point against Croatian WIM. Thereafter, I played well in the next three rounds to finish seventh and win first prize in the below 2400 category,” Thakur said elaborating on his performance.
From January 12, Thakur will participate in the Prague International Open chess tournament.
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