Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran finished his campaign with a finely crafted victory in the Aeroflot International Open Chess tournament which was won by Grandmaster Emil Sutovsky of Israel.

Sasikiran defeated GM Michael Roiz of Israel in the ninth and final round to salvage some pride after a disappointing run in the competition.

Sutovsky was the lucky winner in this strongest open tournament of the world after the final day's excitement which saw many ups and downs.

The drama proved worst for overnight leader Andrei Kharlov of Russia [Images] who finished second behind Sutovsky despite leading the event right from day one.

Another big beneficiary was Vladimir Akopian of Armenia who spoiled Kharlov's party with a fine victory in the last round.

In the end as many as five players tied for the second spot on 6.5 points apiece. The third place went to second seed Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine ahead of Russian Alexander Motylev while Akopian finished fifth.

The tie was resolved giving the benefit to the player who played more number of games with black pieces and Sutovsky was the only one amongst 6.5 pointers who played five black apart from four white.

In the final round, the Israeli winner crushed Russian Sergey Volkov who was also having a dream run in the event.

Apart from Sasikiran, Sandipan Chanda was the other Indian to win in the final round as he put it across GM Alexander Lastin of Russia in style.

While Chanda tallied 4.5 points, National Champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly played out a draw with Robert Fontaine of France [Images] to end on 4 points.

In the 'A2' section, International Master S Kidambi did not waste much time in signing peace with Grandmaster Leonid Yurtaev of Kyrgyzstan.

The draw took Kidambi's tally to a respectable 5.5 points and finished amongst prize-winners in A2 which ended in a three-way tie between Arsen Yegiazarian of Armenia, Zhao Jinchao of China and Sergey Zagerbelny of Uzbekistan.

Young gun Parimarjan Negi was the lone Indian winner in the final round as he accounted for Nikolai Looshnikov of Russia to finish with a tally of 4.5 points.

Also finishing on 4.5 points was GM Tejas Bakre who again took a draw without much ado in his final round game against Russian Vladimir Genba.

At the receiving end were former Asian Junior girls champion Tania Sachdev and India's latest Woman Grandmaster Eesha Karavade who went down to Elena Danielian of Armenia and Wei Chenpeng of China respectively to tally an identical score of 3 points.

Sasikiran outsmarted Roiz, thanks to his better defensive skills. The Israeli went for an allout attack in the Catalana opening playing white but his over amibitious play was punished in befitting manner as Sasikiran brought his pieces to guard the king. The game lasted just 35 moves.

Sutovsky also faced a fierce attack against his king from Volkov but was quite up to the task in handling the offensive after becoming a piece plus. After the dust subsided the Israeli entered an endgame wherein his rook did most of the damage in 42-move victory.

Kharlov was outdone by Akopian from a closed Ruy Lopez while Motylev defeated former champion Viktor Bologan of Moldova to catch up with leaders. In another important game of the final round, Vassily Ivanchuk drew with top seed Etienne Bacrot of France.

Results: Final round:

'A1': Vladimir Akopian (Arm, 6.5) beat Andrei Kharlov (Rus, 6.5); Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr, 6.5) drew with Etienne Bacrot (Fra, 6); Sergey Volkov (Rus, 6) lost to Emil Sutovsky (Isr, 6.5); Alexander Motylev (Rus, 6.5) beat Viktor Bologan (Mda, 5.5); Pavel Eljanov (Ukr, 6) drew with Teimour Radjabov (Aze, 6) ; Vladimir Malakhov (Rus, 6) drew with Alexander Khalifman (Rus, 6); Ni Hua (Chn, 5.5) drew with Levon Aronian (Arm, 5.5); Bu Xiangzhi (Chn, 5.5) drew with Loek Van Wely (Ned, 5.5); Konstantin Sakaev (Rus, 5) lost to Maxim Sorokin (Rus, 6); Mikhail Kobalia (Rus, 5.5) drew with Gabriel Sargissen (Arm, 5.5); Alexander Riazantsev (Rus, 5.5) drew with Pevltregubov (Rus, 5.5); Karen Asrian (Arm, 5.5) beat Pavel Smirnov (Rus, 4.5);  Michael Roiz (Isr, 4) lost to Krishnan Sasikiran (5); Sandipan Chanda (4.5) beat Alexander Lastin (Rus, 3.5); Surya Shekhar Ganguly (4) drew with Robert Fontaine (Fra, 4).

A2: Konstantin Lerner (Ukr, 6.5) drew with Arsen Yegiazarian (Arm, 7); Zhao Jinchao (Chn, 7) beat Vladimir Potkin (Rus, 6); Sergey Zagerbelny (Uzb, 7) beat Alexandr Kharitonov (Rus, 6); Wang Hao (Chn, 6.5) drew with Lev Psakhis (Isr, 6); Sergei Krivoshey (Ukr, 6) drew with Sergei Dyachkov (Rus,  6); Denis Khismatullin (Rus, 6.5) beat Dmitry Gurevich (Usa, 5.5); David Arutinian (Geo, 6) drew with Vyacheslav Ikonnikov (Rus, 6); Sergey Grigoriants (Rus, 6.5) beat Ivan Smikovski (Rus, 5.5); Vladimir Kosyrev (Rus, 6) drew with Rauf Mamedov (Aze, 6); Stelios Halkias (Gre, 6) drew with Aleksei P ridorozhni (Rus, 6); S Kidambi (5.5) drew with Leonid Yurtaev (Kgz, 5.5); Vladimir Genba (Rus, 4.5) drew with Tejas Bakre (4.5); Parimarjan Negi (4.5) beat Nikolai Looshnikov (Rus, 3.5); Wei Chenpeng (Chn, 4) beat Eesha Karavade (3); Tania Sachdev (3) lost to Elena Danielian (Arm, 4).  

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