However, Pune's Central Excise inspector had to patiently wait for almost one-and-a-half hours before he could taste the victory, as his opponent Girish Wagh, known for his strong defence, almost stretched the game to sudden death before agreeing for a draw.

``I knew that a draw can give me the title, so I did not take any risk. Though Girish tried for a win till the end, I just played it safe. He (Girish) did not have any major pieces to attack in the end, and finally offered a draw,'' said Kiran after his game.

Meanwhile, the first round loss to Gokhale proved decisive in Ketan Khaire's fate today, as the interior designer was adjudged second in the meet after the `cut progressive' was applied. Ketan was tied with Gokhale and Utpal Sasane on second place with six points each and equal progressive points of 31.5. But after the `cut progressive', Ketan walked home with the second prize of Rs 6,000, while Gokhale took Rs 4,000 for the third position and Utpal won Rs 2,000 for finishing fourth.

K Panditrao (6.5) drew with G Wagh (5); A Joshi (4) drew with C Gokhale (6); K Khaire (6) drew with P Mokal (5.5); A Mokal (2.5) lost to U Sasane (6); A Karnataki (5.5) bt U Bapat (3.5); J D'Souza bt C Dongre (1.5); S Gohad (3.5) lost to R Sapkal (4).

Final positions: 1 K Panditrao (6.5), 2. K Khaire (6; 31.5 pp), 3. C Gokhale (6; 31.5 pp), 4. U Sasane (6; 31.5 pp), 5. A Karnataki (5.5; 28.5 pp)., 6. P Mokal (5.5; 28.5 pp).