Malakhatko Wins Hastings Open

By Arvind Aaron

The 83rd Hastings Open that ran from December 28, 2007 to January 6, 2008 was won by GM Vadim Malakhatko of Belgium with 7.5/10 after he shared the first place with two others. Nidjat Mamedov (Aze) and Valeriy Neverov (Ukr) took the second and third place with the same points.

Three titled Indians took part. All of them tied for the 19-31 place with six points. International Masters Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury (26th place), Swayangsu Satyapragyan (28th place) and Deep Sengupta (29th place) took part. Our three players are from Bengal, Orissa and Jharkhand. A total of 103 players took part in this 10-round contest. This is one of the oldest running chess tournament in the world held in England each year around the New Year period.