Shyam Sundar Wins Title; Maiden GM Norm For Iniyan

By Arvind Aaron

Teenaged and Erode’s only International Master P Iniyan started as seed 19 and finished third and on course completed his maiden Grand Master norm at Montcada Open held near Barcelona, Spain on July 3, 2017.
Trained by International Master norm holder K Visweswaran of Chennai, Iniyan, born 2002, completed his nine game GM norm in the Barcelona Region of Spain.

Iniyan faced four GMs, and scored 2.5/4 beating top seed GM Evgeny Vorobiov of Russia. and the second seed GM Fernando Peralta of Argentina. He drew GM Shyam Sundar (Chennai) and lost to GM Burmakin (Rus). Iniyan gains 27.4 Elo for his 6.5/9. He played at a stunning 2615, his career best result. Iniyan is sponsored by “Olirum Erodu Foundation” , his school “The Indian Public School Erode”.

In the final round, Iniyan needed a draw for the norm while his opponent needed a win for his norm. Many Indians thought Iniyan was losing but he managed to pull back and draw for his maiden norm. He will need two more norms to complete the title requirement. Significantly, he became an International Master only this year.

Grand Master M Shyam Sundar of Chennai started as fourth seed and won the event remaining undefeated on 7/9. He shared the first place with Russian Grand Master Vladimir Burmakin. The players drew their mutual encounter. Iniyan was third on tie-break with 6.5 points. Former Indian champion P Konguvel finished ninth, further below on six points.

The event attracted 109 players. Hosts, Spain with 42 players had more numbers than the large number of 30 Indians. However, Indians took two thirds of the podium in this 19-nation event. This event had 10 Grand Masters, 15 International Masters and 64 titled players.

Untitled B.C.P. Prasad, 21-year old, impressed with 6/9 and played at 2471 Elo, good for the International Master norm. Prasad gained 30.80 Elo.

Leading Indian rating gainers: Anuj Shrivatri (+116.80), Vardan Nagpal (+101.60), Jijo Joy (+98.80), Avdhoot Lendhe (+98.40), Sapale Saloni (+83.20), M.L. Abhilash Reddy (+53.60).

Final placings (top 10): 1-2. GM M Shyam Sundar, GM Vladimir Burmakin (Rus) 7/9 each; 3-8. IM P Iniyan, IM Asis Gargatagli (Esp), GM Evgeny Vorobiov (Rus), IM Miguel Santos (Esp), GM Cristobal Henriquez (Chi), IM Kevel Olivia (Cub) 6.5 each; 9-10. IM P Konguvel, FM Dmitriy Volkov (USA) and others 6 each.