Gupta, Grover sparkle in London Classic open

Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta won the London Chess Classic's open section with a hard-earned triumph over Grandmaster Keith Arkell of England while International Master Sahaj Grover pulled himself to the second spot after the final round of the event that concluded on Sunday.

Abhijeet, a former world junior champion and reigning national champion, scored eight points in all and will be past the coveted 2650 ELO rating mark in the next rating list while Sahaj, continued his progress in a big way to be well clear of the 2500 elo mark which is necessary to become a Grandmaster.

Sahaj defeated English Grandmaster Peter Wells in the final round.

The Indian dominance in the open section continued as Abhijeet won his seventh game in the event apart from two draws that he conceded earlier.

While a draw was sufficient for the BPCL employee to get to joint first, he did one better to claim the championship uncontested with his reflex-action play in the final round against Arkell.

Sahaj yet again missed the final GM norm as he had not played enough GMs. But the 16-year old won many a hearts with his swashbuckling play and looks set to be amongst the new crop of Indian stalwarts that include Parimarjan Negi. Sahaj scored 7.5 points in all, a half less than Abhijeet.