Top seed and defending champion Nigel Short of England retained his Commonwealth Chess crown by outclassing India's top player Surya Sekhar Ganguly in the tenth and final round of the USD 14,000 tournament on Wednesday.

Short whipped second seed Ganguly in the battle of the two top Grand Masters in only 33 moves to win the top prize of US$ 2,500.

Short's victory was assured even before the conclusion of his match with Ganguly when the two second-placed players overnight - GM Sandipan Chanda and IM M R Venkatesh - agreed for a quick draw in only eight moves in their last league clash to finish second and third respectively.

The England virtuoso, a former world no. three, proved too good for Ganguly who opened with Ruy Lopez but then proceeded to make some uncharacteristic moves to hand the game over on a platter to Short who decimated him and ended the tournament with nine out of 10 points.

The honour for being the best woman player in the tournament sponsored by public sector units LIC, ONGC and MTNL was bagged by WGM and reigning world under 18 champion Dronavalli Harika with a tally of seven points which helped her win USD 500.