360 ONE Global Chess Festival 2026: GM Iniyan Pa Extends Masters Lead With Crucial Round 7 Victory
· Free Press Journal
Mumbai, June 17: G M Iniyan Pa got back to his winning ways in the seventh round, defeating Aakash Sharadchandra Dalvi for his sixth win in the Master’s Section of the 360 ONE Global Chess Festival in progress at the World Trade Centre, Mumbai.
With just two rounds remaining in this Swiss League tournament, Iniyan, with 6.5 points, is a clear 1.5 points ahead of the five-player pack of Dalvi, Boris Savchenko, Apoorv Kamble, Harsh Suresh and Soham Kamotra.
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Viresh Sharnath had been going great guns in the Challenger section with six successive victories, but he was held to a draw in the seventh round by Nithin Babu. He has tallied 6.5 points and has six other players following behind with 6 points each. This category is still wide open, with the players bunched so closely together.
Madhvendra Maintains Lead in Junior Masters
Top seed in both the Challengers and Junior Masters, Madhvendra Pratap Sharma has been bogged down by draws in the Challengers category to trail much behind with 5 points. In the Junior Masters, though, Madhvendra is the sole leader with 6.5 points, while seven players trail behind with 5.5 points apiece. Madhvendra too had notched victories in the first six rounds and conceded his first draw.
Key Results in Masters Section
In other notable results in the Masters category, the second-board encounter between Harsh Suresh and Soham Kamotra ended in a draw, while GM Boris Savchenko defeated IM Ayush Sharma, IM Apoorv Kamble defeated GM Andrey Gorovets, and GM Luka Paichadze defeated GM Alexei Fedorov.
Teen prodigy WIM Oshini Gunawardhana Devindya of Sri Lanka, needing 1.5 points to make her WGM norm, suffered a loss against compatriot IM De Silva LMST and needs at least one victory and a draw in the remaining two rounds.
Iniyan Capitalises on Dalvi’s Error
Dalvi adopted the Nimzo-Indian Defence against Iniyan and adopted an aggressive stance from the initial stages itself. He steamrolled his pawns on the kingside, with the queen also hovering around his opponent’s king.
On the 18th move, Dalvi could have initiated the exchange of queens to maintain positional balance, but a wrong queen check and a crafty knight sacrifice by Iniyan tilted the game in his favour. All of a sudden, Iniyan’s queen, rook, knight and bishop were gunning long-range at Dalvi’s king, exposed by the pawn advances in the opening stages of the game. Iniyan did appear to miss an easier route to victory but checkmated his opponent on the 34th turn with his queen and bishop.
Shete and Belurkar Battle to Draw
The English Opening game between IMs Sammed Jaykumar Shete and Nitish Belurkar had many interesting moments, with Shete attacking vigorously on the kingside. Shete missed some promising continuations, and Belurkar’s castled king could escape by running away to the queenside. After 58 moves, the game ended in a draw.
Sharnarthi Misses Winning Chance
In an irregular opening game, Sharnarthi played solidly against Nithin with the white pieces to maintain equality without taking much risk. Later, after gaining an advantage, Sharnarthi missed a winning opportunity in a rook-and-pawn ending, and the game fizzled into a draw after 58 moves.
Also Watch:
360 ONE Global Chess Festival 2026: IM Soham Kamotra Ends Iniyan Pa's Five-Game Winning StreakResults
Iniyan, Pa (1) beat Aakash Sharadchandra Dalvi (0)
Harsh Suresh (½) drew with Soham Kamotra (½)
Savchenko, Boris (1) beat Ayush Sharma (0)
Nitish Belurkar (½) drew with Sammed Jaykumar Shete (½)
Apoorv Kamble (1) beat Gorovets, Andrey (0)
Paichadze, Luka (1) beat Fedorov, Alexei (0)
Gupta, Abhijeet (½) drew with Jain, Kashish Manoj (½)
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