LORCA (Spain), Dec 31: India’s teenage Grandmaster P Iniyan finished a creditable third in the Lorca Open 2021 chess tournament here.
The 19-year old Iniyan scored seven points from nine rounds, winning seven games while losing two including in the final round to Karen H Grigoryan (Armenia).
The loss to the Armenian GM proved crucial as the third-seeded Indian player had been the leader after the eighth round.
Iniyan gained five Elo points as a result of the performance in the event which concluded late on Thursday.
Among his wins were one over compatriot GM Karthik Venkataraman in the eighth round.
Venkataraman also finished with seven points but took the fourth place on the basis of an inferior tie-break score.
International Master Srijit Paul claimed the seventh spot after scoring 6.5 points.
Brazilian GM Alexandr Fier took the top prize with 7.5 points, edging Grigoryan, who also secured 7.5 points on the basis of a better tie-break score.
The tournament was played over nine rounds under classical time control and featured 159 players from 25 countries. (PTI)
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