P Iniyan secures eight position at Dubai Open Chess C’ship

P Iniyan, who became India’s 61st Grandmaster recently on March 7, put up a fine performance in the Dubai Open, at the Dubai Chess Club. The 16-year-old did not get the best of the starts, as he went down against Bharath Subramaniyam. But he made a resounding comeback, by handing out defeats to Indians Thrish Karthik and V Pranav, Ukrainian Sergey Naboka, and Argentine GM Mareco Sandro. In the final round, he defeated the nationally eight ranked P Sethuraman, who is 26 positions above him.

“It is always satisfying when you defeat players of the quality of Sethuraman,” said Iniyan, reported TOI.

After his fantastic performance in the nine rounds of the tournament, the Erode boy had secured seven points, and was tied for the first place with seven other players. He eventually ended up at the eighth place in the tiebreakers. The young lad was delighted with his performance.

“It was a competitive field and I am happy with the way the tournament panned out for me,” he said.

Russian GM Maxim Matlakov took the trophy as well as the top prize of $13,000. Ukrainian Kuzubov Yuriy was placed second, and Uzbekistan's Abdusattorov Nodirbek followed.

Iniyan has been on the road for a while now, and will take a break from the sport in order to prepare for his class XI examinations due in June. 

“I have played a lot continuously, and now I need to write my exams. So, for now, we have not planned on a tournament,” he reckoned.

The International Master 2017 title winner’s notable performance has enabled him to gain 13.7 points, taking his live ELO rating to 2525.7.