Indian Grandmaster Panneerselvam Iniyan on Tuesday won the La Nucia Open Chess tournament with an unbeaten run. The Indian was seeded fifth and remained unbeaten in the nine rounds that he played. The 19-year-old is the 61st player from India to be commemorated with the title of Grandmaster by the FIDE. He achieved the first Grand Master norm at Ciutat de Mantacda Open, in June 2017. Currently, he has an Elo rating of 2529.
He played nine rounds in the tournament. In those nine rounds, he managed to win six, drew two, and got a bye in the eighth round. He won against IM Jony Wilson Leon Valdes of Cuba in his last match of the tournament. Although he had seven points against his name, he was still tied equal with Grand Master Andrey Sumets of Ukraine and Grand Master Rodrigo Schoder of Chile. He was declared the champion on the basis of a superior number of breakpoints over his opponents.
In a post-match interview, the winner said in a delighted tone to PTI, “It feels great to win a title here,” he further added that the win over Evgeny Postny of Israel in the fifth round was one of the best matches he played in this tournament.
