Rakesh Rao wins Journalists' Chess Meet

Rakesh Rao of The Hindu won the Press Club of India Annual Chess tournament by maintaining an all-win record in the five-round competition here today.

In the fifth and final round, Rao (5 points) beat Ajit Pratap Singh (3.5) in the title-deciding clash.

Mrigank Prabhakar (4) of Sahara finished runner-up after outwitting veteran Bipendra Sharma. Ajit and Sunil Chaturvedi shared the third spot with 3.5 points.

Final standings: 1. Rakesh Rao (5 points); 2. Mrigank Prabhakar (4); 3-4. Ajit Pratap Singh, Sunil Chaturvedi (3.5 each); 5-9. Shailesh Tiwari, Vinod Pandey, Bipendra Sharma, Ravinder Tripathy, Upendra Sood (3 each), 10. Virender Anand (2.5).