NOISIEL (France), Feb 24: Unbeaten throughout the tournament, Indian Grandmaster P Iniyan won the Noisiel International Open 2023 held here, collecting seven points from nine rounds.
The 20-year old player from India finished a point clear of the field, scoring five wins apart from four draws. He remained unbeaten through the nine rounds.
After eight rounds, both Iniyan and compatriot N R Vignesh were tied on points. Iniyan drew his final round game against Toni Lazov late on Thursday to emerge winner while the 25-year old GM Vignesh lost to Alexander Oye-Stromberg (Norway) and had to be satisfied with second place on 6.5 points.
Another Indian GM Karthik Venkataraman took the fourth place with 6.5 points and P Shyam Nikhil ended seventh (5.5 points).
Iniyan was either sharing the lead or was in sole lead throughout the tournament. He began with a win over Gaetan Roque and subsequently scored over Tristan Niermann and Arthur Macon before Vignesh held him to a draw in the fourth round.
After defeating Stromberg in the fifth round, Iniyan drew with Venkataraman in round six, won in the seventh round before sharing points with his opponents in rounds eight and nine. (PTI)
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