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Grandmaster Lev Psakhis of Israel beat Argentinian IM Alfredo Giaccio to come out clear winner with 7.5 points in the Andorra International Open Chess tournament at Andorra on July 3, 2000. Mihail Marin of Romania and Hichem Hamdouchi of Morocco drew among themselves to finish joint second with 7.0 points each. The top board game between two of the joint leaders from the penultimate round, Hamdouchi and Marin ended in a draw in just under an hour to leave Lev Psakhis requiring only a draw to win the title on tie-break. However, Psakhis had a better position on board, and confidently went on to a win in a tactical game.
International Master R B Ramesh ended his campaign on a winning note, while compatriot V Saravanan had to settle for a draw in the final round. Ramesh, who lost in the previous round to see his GM norm hopes being dashed, crushed Romanian IM Ioan Cosma to finish sixth with 6.5 points. Another half point would have given him a GM norm. Ramesh made an easy beginning with white pieces and got a slightly better position out of the opening against Cosma. In a tactical middlegame, Cosma took the risky decision of castling on the queenside, thus paving the way for a direct attack against the black king. Ramesh conducted the attack in an aggressive manner by pushing all his pawns on the queenside. He finally finished the game off with a bishop sacrifice and bringing his opponent's king into the mating net.
Saravanan drew his game with Karsten Larsen of Denmark but his 5.5 points from nine rounds were not enough to ensure him a place in the top ten. Saravanan, also playing with white pieces, adopted Ruy Lopez opening against Larsen and gained an initial advantage. Larsen sacrificed a pawn in the middlegame to create counter play and was rewarded with an attack on the white king due to the dark square weaknesses. Saravanan was forced on the defensive despite being a pawn up. He avoided any further risks and forced his opponent to repeat moves to settle for a draw through the three-time repetiton rule after 45 moves. The third Indian in the fray, Vedant Goswami fought well against local hero IM Fernando Braga before signing the peace treaty on second offer from his more experienced opponent, to finish with five points. The Indian trio now move on to the little town of Benasque, Spain, for their next tournament in the circuit, which starts from July 6, 2000.
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