Harshit Raja shares first place at 56th Liberty Bell Open 2024
IM Alexander Ross Katz (USA), GM Fidel Corrales Jimenez (USA), GM Harshit Raja, GM Mackenzie Molner (USA) and Quan Tran (USA) scored 5.5/7 each at 56th Liberty Bell Open (Major >1900) 2024. All five players shared the first prize. Harshit's sole loss was against Katz. He defeated Quan in the fifth and drew against Fidel in the final round. The total prize fund of the tournament was US$ 25000. The top three prizes were $2500, $1500 and $1000 each. The top five received $1340 each with Alexander receiving more as a first place bonus prize after tie-breaks. This is Harshit's second consecutive triumph after winning Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Championship 2024 for University of Missouri earlier in January.
Top five score 5.5/7
GM Harshit Raja is currently studying at University of Missouri. He finished last year by winning Winter Chess Classic 2023 for his team. Then he won Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Championship 2024 for University of Missouri at the beginning of 2024. He continues his great momentum and shared first place at 56th Liberty Bell Open (Major >1900) 2024. India's 69th Grandmaster has certainly made a great start to the year and we hope he continues his great form.
A total of 86 players including 3 GMs and 4 IMs took part from various places across the USA. The four-day Major section (>1900) seven round Rating tournament was organized by Continental Chess Association at Sonesta Hotel, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in USA from 12th to 15th January 2024. The time control of the event was 40 moves in 80 minutes with 30 seconds delay + 30 minutes with 30 seconds delay.