GM Kamil Miton of Poland (left) wins tie-breaking blitz game over IM Magesh Panchanathan of India and was declared the overall champion. Photo by Daaim Shabazz.

The 33rd World Open was "hotter than July" with smoke blazing from the chess boards at the Wyndham Hotel. Fighting chess was the mantra for the 2005 edition and when the smoke cleared, Polish Grandmaster Kamil Miton emerged as the declared winner. However, he had to defeat IM (now GM-elect) Magesh Panchanathan of India in a tie-breaking blitz battle.  Both scored a sparkling 7½-1½. Panchanathan, who is a student at the University of Texas-Dallas, got a lot of encouragement from the Indian players who traveled 24 hours to compete in the tournament. The 21-year old IM becomes the  12th Grandmaster in the history of India .

The 20-year old Miton defeated GMs Leonid Yudasin, Gennadi Zaitshik, Joel Benjamin, Ildar Ibragimov and Julio Becerra and scored six wins for an undefeated score. Panchanathan loss only to GM Larry Christiansen while also scoring a tournament high of seven wins! His most crucial wins were probably against  GM Jaan Ehlvest and his thrilling last-round victory over GM Alexander Shabalov which went down to Queen vs. Rook. After his win, he would tie with Miton for the tournament lead. Miton agreed to play a tie-break blitz game playing the white pieces with 7:5 draw odds. Thus, all Panchanathan needed was a draw to win the overall title.

The two men sat down with an attentive audience including many of the Indian players. The game featured a Catalan Opening and Panchanathan played actively with 9…a4 and 12… c5, but Miton got an advantage in space and launched an frontal attack with 21.Ng5! (diagram).

Panchanathan's rooks were tied down to a weak backrank and a white pawn that had made its way to the f7-square.  He finally made a "luft" square, but was hit with a direct rook assault and the game ended swiftly when black would have to donate his queen to stave off mate. The win made Miton $20,000 richer and perhaps his passing on the European Individual Championships was worth it.

Despite Miton's overall victory, the attention was on Panchanathan who had clinched a GM norm after eight rounds. After his 9th round win over Shabalov, he was mobbed by the Indian players in an impromptu celebration… a wonderful sight!

Posted by The Chess Drum: 6 July 2005