P. Iniyan (14) from Erode has won gold medal at the World Youth Chess Olympiad held at Ahmedabad from December 11 to 18. He also helped the Indian Green Team win silver medal in the Olympiad.

Indian Green team was the top seed of the event, which saw the participation of 30 teams, with a whopping rating average of 2,503.

India had fielded three teams, two from the National Sub-Junior Championship last year and one from a special selection of best players of the country. The tournament was of nine rounds Swiss format. Aryan Chopra, Praggnanandhaa, Nihal Sarin, Iniyan and Vaishali comprised the Indian Team .

Indian Green team’s Iniyan and Nihal Sarin bagged individual gold medals for their respective board. Iniyan scored 7.5 points from eight rounds with an excellent scoring percentage of 93.8 % and proved to be a rock on the fourth board.

At the same time he helped the team secure a silver medal. Nihal Sarin scored 5.5 points out of 7 and got gold in 3rd board.

Iniyan is to participate in the 34th International Bollinger 2017 to be held in Germany from December 26 to 30 and the Montebelluna Elite Open 2018 to be held in Italy from January 2 to 7, 2018.

Olirum Erodu Foundation that has been funding him for all the games sponsored Rs. 1.75 lakh to Iniyan for the recently held tournaments. District Collector S. Prabhakar felicitated Iniyan on Tuesday.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Tamil Nadu / by Staff Reporter / Erode – December 21st, 2017