Parimarjan Negi bagged his second IM norm

Dubai: Eesha Karavade became India?s eighth WGM after settling for an easy draw with Adel Omearat of Syria in the ninth and final round of seventh Dubai International chess championship here.

Eesha clocked a rating performance of 2433 points, quite above the 2401 mark that is required for the WGM title.

More good news for the Indian contingent followed in the last round as 12-year-old Parimarjan Negi got his second IM norm following a draw with IM Jayson Gonzales of the Philippines in his final game.

Meanwhile, Wang Hao of China played against Georgi Kacheishvili of Georgia to annex the title and the first prize of $ 5,000. The Chinese teenager came good in the final round game with black and also made his GM norm in the process.

Among Indians, GMs Abhijit Kunte, R. B. Ramesh and Humpy were the pick of the lot scoring 5.5 points each.

But it was Eesha?s day, who followed in the footsteps of WGMs S. Vijayalakshmi, Aarthie Ramaswamy, Koneru Humpy, Nisha Mohota, Swati Ghate, D. Harika and S. Meenakshi. (PTI)