Abhijeet Gupta clinches Caplin Hastings Masters 2023-24
GM Abhijeet Gupta scored 7.5/9 to win Caplin Hastings Masters 2023. He finished the tournament a half point ahead of the competition. GM Pengxiang Zhang (CHN) scored sole 7/9 to secure second place. Nine players including GM Maxime Lagarde (FRA) scored 6.5/9 each. They shared third place. Former multi-time Hastings Masters winner, GM Deep Sengupta was one of them. The total prize fund of the tournament was over £20000. The top three prizes were £2500 + trophy, £1750 and £1250 each respectively. This was Abhijeet's third triumph of 2023 and can also be considered his first tournament victory of 2024 as the tournament finished on 5th January 2024. Photo: Prashila Narsing Chauhan/Caplin Hastings Masters
Top three seeds finish in top 3
GM Abhijeet Gupta, GM Pengxiang Zhang (CHN) and GM Brandon Jacobson (USA) were in a three-way lead 6.5/8, heading into the final round. Abhijeet defeated Brandon, Pengxiang drew against GM Deep Sengupta. Abhijeet became a clear champion, Pengxiang second. GM Maxime Lagarde (FRA) won against IM Daniel Fischer (SUI) to share third place with eight other players including Deep.
A total of 102 players including 15 GMs, 11 IMs, 3 WGMs and 4 WIMs took part from 25 countries across the world in the Masters section. The nine-day nine-round Swiss League Rating tournament was organized by Hastings Committee at Horntye Park Sports Complex in Hastings, England from 28th December 2023 to 5th January 2024. The time control of the event was 40 moves in 100 minutes + 50 mins, 30 seconds increment from move no.1.
Final standings
Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | n | w | we | w-we | K | rtg+/- | ||
1 | 2 | GM | Gupta, Abhijeet | IND | 2628 | 7 | 0 | 2594 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 7,35 | -0,35 | 10 | -3,5 | |
2 | 5 | GM | Liu, Yan | CHN | 2545 | 7 | 0 | 2584 | 5 | 9 | 7 | 5,48 | 1,52 | 10 | 15,2 | |
3 | 1 | GM | Bu, Xiangzhi | CHN | 2694 | 7 | 0 | 2581 | 5 | 9 | 7 | 7,28 | -0,28 | 10 | -2,8 | |
4 | 36 | IM | Ceres, Dragos | MDA | 2409 | 7 | 0 | 2543 | 5 | 8 | 6,5 | 3,82 | 2,68 | 10 | 26,8 | |
5 | 48 | Xiao, Tong(Qd) | CHN | 2316 | 7 | 0 | 2500 | 5 | 9 | 7 | 3,52 | 3,48 | 20 | 69,6 | ||
6 | 38 | Huang, Renjie | CHN | 2406 | 6,5 | 0 | 2578 | 4 | 9 | 6,5 | 3,36 | 3,14 | 10 | 31,4 | ||
7 | 3 | GM | Dardha, Daniel | BEL | 2619 | 6,5 | 0 | 2465 | 4 | 9 | 6,5 | 7,11 | -0,61 | 10 | -6,1 | |
8 | 14 | GM | Gorshtein, Ido | ISR | 2503 | 6,5 | 0 | 2440 | 5 | 9 | 6,5 | 5,99 | 0,51 | 10 | 5,1 | |
9 | 10 | GM | Lalit, Babu M R | IND | 2529 | 6,5 | 0 | 2440 | 4 | 9 | 6,5 | 6,15 | 0,35 | 10 | 3,5 | |
10 | 8 | GM | Stremavicius, Titas | LTU | 2540 | 6,5 | 0 | 2433 | 5 | 9 | 6,5 | 6,46 | 0,04 | 10 | 0,4 |