India's P Magesh Chandran lifted the title in the 95th edition of the prestigious Hastings International Chess Congress at  Hastings in England.



He remained unbeaten in all the nine rounds. The 36-year old Grand Master with a FIDE rating of 2479, finished in clear first place with 7.5 points from nine games after securing a 33-move draw in the final round yesterday against compatriot G A Stany, also a Grand Master. He beat fellow Indian GM Deep Sengupta in the eighth round.



Stany took the sixth place with 6.5 points while India's woman GM R Vaishali obtained six points to finish 10th. Two other Indians Deep Sengupta finished 13th and Swayam Mishra 14th with identical six points.



France's Romain Edouard, who was the only player to end the tournament a half-point behind Chandran, took the second spot. Four players shared third to sixth places with 6.5 points.  



Chandran, who currently lives in North Carolina, USA and has a chess academy, said he plans to play more events this year. The Indian had become a GM in 2006 and moved to the US for higher studies at the University of Texas.