Keralite Grandmaster S L Narayanan emerged champion in the Checkmate COVID-19 intenational online blitz tournament in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday.

Narayanan and Commonwealth champion GM Abhijeet Gupta were tied with nine points. But the 21-year-old Narayanan claimed the top honours due to a better progressive score.

Narayanan and Gupta donated their prize money, Rs 12,000 and Rs 8,000 respectively, to the Kerala Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund.

The 10-round championship featured 429 players from 16 countries and collected nearly Rs 3.9 lakh.

British chess legend and FIDE vice-president Nigel Short, who participated, said he was glad to be of help in the fight against COVID-19.

"It's a small move, really, but glad to be of help in the fight against Covid-19 in #Kerala, India," he tweeted.

Top-10 spots: 1. S  L Narayanan (9 points), 2. Abhijeet Gupta (9), 3. Renato Terry (8.5), 4. Ravi Teja (8.5), 5. Arjun Erigaisi (8), 6. Vaibhav Suri (8), 7. Abhimanyu Puranik (8), 8. Nihal Sarin (8), 9. Runak Sadhwani (8), 10. R R Laxman (8).

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