GRANDMASTER INIYAN WINS SILVER MEDAL IN 1ST WORLD UNIVERSITY ONLINE BLITZ CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP

Representing prestigious Bharathiar University, Grandmaster Iniyan P won the silver medal in the 1^st World University Online Blitz Chess Championship held from 14^th March to 18^th March 2021.

A total number of 960 players from 84 countries were participated in this prestigious event. The qualification league matches were played in four different groups with top two players advancing to the final stage. Iniyan played in the Group ‘A’ and scored 8.5 points out of possible 10 to qualify for the finals as group topper.

The final stage of the event was played on 18^th March in a formidable 8 player Round Robin format.  Iniyan was the sole representative of India at final stage and he pitted against GM Haik Martirosyan, GM Hovhannes Gabuzyan  of Armenia, GM Mikhail Antipov, GM Grigoriy Oparin of Russia, GM Yinglun Xu of China, IM Taher Yoseph Theolifus of Indonesia and IM Irakli Beradze of Georgia representing their respective universities.

Iniyan started his final campaign in a disastrous note with a defeat from the hands of Chinese GM Yinglun Xu in the first round. He recovered quickly from the first round debacle to put on great streak scoring 5.5 points out of the last 6 games to tie for the first position along with Armenian GM Haik Martirosyan with whom he signed the peace treaty.  Better tie break score helped the Armenian GM to clinch the Gold medal while Iniyan finished with a creditable silver medal.

Congratulations to P Iniyan for making us proud!