Iniyan dominates 9th Johor Open 2025, Raahul second
GM Iniyan Pa scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 to win 9th Johor Open 2025. He finished a whopping 1.5 points ahead of the rest and won the tournament with a round to spare. IM V S Raahul and IM Bo Li (CHN) scored 7/9 each. They secured second and third place respectively according to tie-breaks. The top three prizes were RM 10000 (≈₹196810), 6000 (≈₹118086) and 4000 (≈₹78724). The six-day nine round Rating Open tournament was organized by Johor Chess Association at Fairview International School in Johor Bahru, Malaysia from 18th to 23rd January 2025. Iniyan has won two consecutive Classical rating tournament he played in 2025 - first 15th Chennai GM Open 2025, now this.
Iniyan becomes champion with a round to spare
The top seed of the tournament, GM Iniyan Pa became the champion when he defeated IM Nayaka Budhidharma (INA) in Round 8. He was 1.5 points ahead of the rest, going into the final round. Despite last round result being immaterial to his final rank, Iniyan declined a repetition, went on to beat GM Van Huy Nguyen (VIE) to become a clear champion and maintain the 1.5 points gap. IM V S Raahul defeated IM Aditya Bagus Arfan (INA) to finish second with a score 7/9. Over seven years later, an Indian won the tournament. GM Venkatesh M R won it last in 2017. Iniyan also finished second in the Blitz Open scoring 6.5/7, same as the champion, IM Alexey Polschikov who won the event on tie-breaks. The festival witnessed the participation of total 475 players - 84 in Open, 101 in Challengers, 178 in Rapid and 112 in Blitz.
Iniyan - Budhidharna, Round 8
GM Iniyan Pa (2508) made his intentions clear early in the penultimate round game against IM Nayaka Budhidharma (INA, 2356). He went for an all out attack 16.f3. Black accepted the free pawn 16...Bxf3 17.Nxf3 Rxf3 18.Qe2 Qf6 19.0-0-0 Rf8 20.Rdg1 Rf4 21.Qg2 Rf3 22.Kd2 Rf7 23.Ke2 White's relentless attack on the kingside worked out when his opponent made a mistake Bh6?? 24.Qxg6+ and soon White arrived at a winning rook endgame in the next few moves. This win helped Iniyan become the winner of the tournament with a round to spare.
A total of 84 players including 3 GMs, 11 IMs and 2 WIMs took part from eight countries across the world in the Open event. The six-day nine round Rating Open tournament was organized by Johor Chess Association at Fairview International School in Johor Bahru, Malaysia from 18th to 23rd January 2025. The time control of the event was 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.
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Final standings in Classical
| Rk. | SNo | Name | sex | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | n | w | we | w-we | K | rtg+/- | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | GM | Iniyan, Pa | IND | 2508 | 8,5 | 0 | 48,5 | 52 | 9 | 8,5 | 6,94 | 1,56 | 10 | 15,6 | ||
| 2 | 6 | IM | Raahul, V S | IND | 2382 | 7 | 0 | 49 | 53,5 | 9 | 7 | 5,55 | 1,45 | 10 | 14,5 | ||
| 3 | 16 | IM | Li, Bo | CHN | 2222 | 7 | 0 | 45,5 | 49,5 | 9 | 7 | 4,94 | 2,06 | 10 | 20,6 | ||
| 4 | 8 | FM | Cahaya, Satria Duta | INA | 2360 | 6,5 | 0 | 46,5 | 50,5 | 9 | 6,5 | 6,31 | 0,19 | 20 | 3,8 | ||
| 5 | 19 | CM | Mariano, Fabian Glen | INA | 2175 | 6,5 | 0 | 46,5 | 50 | 9 | 6,5 | 3,73 | 2,77 | 40 | 110,8 | ||
| 6 | 10 | IM | Budhidharma, Nayaka | INA | 2356 | 6,5 | 0 | 46 | 49,5 | 9 | 6,5 | 6,47 | 0,03 | 20 | 0,6 | ||
| 7 | 2 | GM | Priasmoro, Novendra | INA | 2436 | 6,5 | 0 | 44 | 48,5 | 9 | 6,5 | 7,07 | -0,57 | 10 | -5,7 | ||
| 8 | 7 | GM | Nguyen, Van Huy | VIE | 2372 | 6 | 0 | 48,5 | 53 | 9 | 6 | 5,54 | 0,46 | 10 | 4,6 | ||
| 9 | 5 | IM | Arfan, Aditya Bagus | INA | 2402 | 6 | 0 | 48 | 52 | 9 | 6 | 6,15 | -0,15 | 10 | -1,5 | ||
| 10 | 4 | IM | Firman Syah, Farid | INA | 2405 | 6 | 0 | 45,5 | 48,5 | 9 | 6 | 6,71 | -0,71 | 10 | -7,1 |
A total of 112 players including 3 GMs, 6 IMs and a WIM took part from nine countries across the world in the Blitz event. The one-day nine round Open tournament was organized by Johor Chess Association at Fairview International School in Johor Bahru, Malaysia on 23rd January 2025. The time control of the event was 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment from move no.1.
Final standings in Blitz
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | IM | Polschikov, Alexey | RUS | 2304 | 6,5 | 0 | 26 | 31,5 | |
| 2 | 1 | GM | Iniyan, Pa | IND | 2457 | 6,5 | 0 | 24,5 | 30 | |
| 3 | 3 | GM | Nguyen, Van Huy | VIE | 2345 | 6 | 0 | 27,5 | 33 | |
| 4 | 37 | Lasama, Claudio Vargues Vasco | INA | 1840 | 6 | 0 | 22,5 | 27,5 | ||
| 5 | 15 | FM | Cahaya, Satria Duta | INA | 2143 | 5,5 | 0 | 28 | 34,5 | |
| 6 | 7 | IM | Arfan, Aditya Bagus | INA | 2283 | 5,5 | 0 | 27 | 33,5 | |
| 7 | 10 | IM | Budhidharma, Nayaka | INA | 2262 | 5,5 | 0 | 25,5 | 32 | |
| 8 | 17 | Tran, Vo Quoc Bao | VIE | 2118 | 5,5 | 0 | 24 | 29,5 | ||
| 9 | 25 | CM | Mariano, Fabian Glen | INA | 1983 | 5,5 | 0 | 24 | 29,5 | |
| 10 | 8 | FM | Khairul, Anam | INA | 2282 | 5 | 0 | 29,5 | 36 |