Grandmaster P Iniyan of Tamil Nadu on Wednesday won the 62nd National Chess Championship, remaining undefeated in the tournament played over 11 rounds in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh.
The top-seeded player collected nine points out of a possible 11 following seven wins and four draws.
On the way to the title, Iniyan scored wins against state-mate and International Master Harsh Suresh, Grandmaster Deepan Chakkravarthy of the Railways and Grandmaster Sasikiran Krishnan of the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board, who finished third in the tournament.
The 10-day tournament saw 394 players from across the country, including 14 Grandmasters, 30 International Masters and 15 FIDE Masters, competing for the title.
Going into the final round against Abhijeet Gupta (PSPB), Iniyan was in sole lead but a draw in the match allowed IM Goutham Krishna from Kerala, with whom Iniyan had a drawn game in Round 7, to catch up on nine points.
But Iniyan was adjudged winner on the basis of better tie-break results, while Goutham took the runner-up spot.
The victory makes Iniyan the national champion in both the Classical and Rapid sections. Iniyan had won the National Rapid title in March this year.
The 23-year-old's fine showing this year has not just made him eligible for the Asian Championship, Commonwealth Championship and several other events next year, but also taken his rating to 2600-plus.
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