Grandmaster B Adhiban wins the Reykjavik Open 2018 – Bobby Fischer Memorial title

03/15/2018

Baskaran Adhiban becomes just the second Indian Grandmaster to lift the Reykjavik Open title after Abhijeet Gupta won the title back in 2016. Adhiban managed to waive off pressure from Turkey’s Mustafa Yilmaz as he settled for a draw in the final round of the tournament to claim the title.

25-year old Baskaran Adhiban has always been an underdog in most of the tournaments he has participated in. The 2008 World Under-16 Champion and the 2009 Indian champion was the lowest ranked participant at the 2017 Tata Steel Masters Tournament, but he fought his way to the third rank with a total score of 7.5 points out of 13. He defeated the likes of Sergey Karjakin, Dmitry Andreikin, Radosław Wojtaszek and Richárd Rapport, whom Adhiban defeated yesterday as well.

Adhiban just needed a draw in the final round of the Reykjavik Open 2018 – Bobby Fischer Memorial title against Turkish opponent Mustafa Yilmaz in order to secure the title. He managed to get a quick draw against Yilmaz to end the tournament with 7.5 points from a possible nine to become the second Indian after Abhijeet Gupta to win the Reykjavik Open.

Adhiban began the tournament with a draw but fought his way to the top after he claimed five successive wins as he finished the tournament with six wins and three draws.

"I was telling my friends, I hope the spirit of Fischer is with me. I think it was!" Adhiban tweeted.

Amongst other Indians, was 13-year old Nihal Sarin who fell to his first defeat in the tournament in the last round as he lost to GM Maxime Lagarde. However, Sarin’s effort in the tournament meant that he was just another win away from becoming a Grandmaster.

Meanwhile, GM Vaibhav Suri could not break through the defence of GM Pavel Eljanov to settle for a draw after 143 moves in a bishop-knight finish.