Bringing glory to the nation, the Indian Grandmaster has raised the victory flag in Serbia. P Iniyan, the Indian Grandmaster has won the 5th Rujna Zora chess tournament. He won the tournament with seven points from nine rounds. The undefeated Indian GM finished with five wins and four draws. He finished half a point ahead of Russia’s International Master Makarian Rudik.
The tournament included three GMs
Following a slow start of 2.5/4, Iniyan quickly picked up the pace, winning the next four games. As a result, Iniyan’s opponents, GM Miodrag and IM Alan Safar Ramoutar failed to appear for their forfeited games. Along with Iniyan, V S Raahul, another Indian player, finished third with six points, while compatriot S Nitin, an IM, finished fourth with 5.5 points. The last match between both the players finished in a draw. This draw led him to win the game. The tournament included three GMs. It was a 10-player, all-play-all event with traditional time control.
Believes his father as his first coach
18 years old, P. Iniyan is a native of erode district. At this young age, Iniyan is already making strides toward establishing himself as one of India’s best grandmasters. Iniyan describes his father, Panneerselvam, as his first coach. It was his father who taught the young boy the rules of the game. As Iniyan progressed in chess, Mr. Panneerselvam tried to learn more about the game in order to help his son.
Achievements of Iniyan
Iniyan started playing chess at the age of 5 years. In the early days, his father taught him the fundamentals of chess. Iniyan won the best young player award in his first FIDE-rated tournament. He received the rating of 1535 in April 2009, at the age of six. Iniyan qualified for Asian and World Youth under-8 competitions after strong performances at under-7 state and nationals. In the year 2019, Iniyan won the title of 61st Grandmaster by FIDE.