Mysuru lad Girish A. Koushik (2374 Rating), taking part in Akshayakalpa 46th ICA Monthly Open Chess Tournament held at Silicon City Academy Secondary School premises, Bengaluru, won the title with 7 points from 8 rounds.

Girish Koushik tied with Md.Dilshad (Rating 1930) who also secured 7 points from 8 rounds but Girish Koushik’s better progressive-tie-break score of 41.5 to the later’s 39.5 helped him to clinch the title.

H.G. Santhosh Kashyap (6.5), Likit Chilkuri (6.5), GM Deviatkin Anderi (Rus-6 points), D. Yashas (6), Ojas Kulkarni (6), P. Jagadish (6) and A. Balkishan (6) secured places from third to nine in the final rankings.

Mysore players L. Vivekananda (5 points-22nd place), V.P.S.Darshan (5 points-25th place) and H.R. Manasa (5 points-27th place) also fared well.

Girish had wins over Nitesh Bhat, S. Shiva, Sanjay Sindhia, Hindhuja Reddy, Sushrutha Reddy and GM Deviatkin Anderi (Russia). He drew his last two round games against D. Yashas and H.G. Santosh Kashyap.