India's Baskaran Adhiban wins Rejkavik Open 2018

What's the story?

Indian grandmaster Baskaran Adhiban played flawlessly to clinch the Bobby Fischer Memorial title - Rejkavik Open 2018 on Wednesday after settled for a quick draw against Turkey’s Mustafa Yilmaz.

In case you didn't know...

Baskaran Adhiban is a grandmaster from the southern state of Tamil Nadu and is one of India’s leading chess players with a consistent rating of over 2600. He became the youngest ever champion of the Indian national ‘B’ championships after winning the title in September 2008.

The heart of the matter

Mustafa Yilmaz needed a win in the final round against Adhiban, while the Indian had an advantage as he was ahead by half a point. Yilmaz tried to put pressure on Adhiban via a Queen Gambit, but the latter was not in a hurry and steadily moved towards an easy win without taking any risks. Adhiban started with a draw in the tournament but soon found his form back and won five successive matches, ending the competition with six wins and three draws.

In another tie, India’s R Praggnanadha finished joint third with a win over N Niranjan but missed put on a GM norm. Nihal Sarin, who was also a part of the competition, lost his first match against Grandmaster Maxime Lagarde in the last round to miss out on a GM norm for the second time.

What's next?

The former Premier National Chess Championship winner has been phenomenal throughout the tournament; hopefully, he continues the winning streak in the upcoming tournaments. "I was telling my friends, I hope the spirit of Fischer is with me. I think it was!", said the Rejkjavik Open winner.

Author's take

India has produced many talented chess players before, the most prominent being the former World Champion itself and the current World Rapid Chess Champion, Viswanathan Anand. With Baskaran displaying good performances in big stages, hopefully, we will see another World Champion from our nation.