Belarusian Grandmaster Mihail Nikitenko pulled level with India’s Abhijeet Gupta at the top of the standings after the eighth round of the 21st Delhi International Open Chess Tournament at Tivoli Gardens, Chattarpur, on Thursday. Nikitenko defeated Georgia’s Luka Paichadze while overnight leader Gupta was held to a draw by Armenia’s Manuel Petrosyan.
With just two rounds remaining, both Gupta and Nikitenko have 7 points each and will face each other in Friday’s penultimate round of the Category A section.
A tightly bunched chasing pack of 12 players, including seven Indians, remain in contention with 6.5 points. Top seed India’s SL Narayanan was held to a draw by compatriot IM Neelash Saha for his third consecutive draw in the tournament after starting with five straight wins.
Indian IM Aronyak Ghosh and Swedish GM Vitaly Sivuk settled for a peaceful draw, while GM Diptayan Ghosh beat Russia’s Boris Savchenko.
Maharashtra’s Viresh Sharnarthi is the highest-placed untitled player in the event thus far. The 15-year-old has won six out of eight rounds and sits with 6.5 points, just half a point below the leaders.
The tournament’s surprise package, untitled 77th-seed Arnav Agarwal from Uttar Pradesh, continued his impressive run. With five wins, two draws, and one loss, the youngster sits joint third with 6 points and has already gained a remarkable 83.6 Elo rating points from his performance.
In Category C, it’s an eight-way tie for first place after the day’s play, all unbeaten on 5.0 points after five rounds. The highest-rated player in this category, Harsimranjit Singh (1699), has slipped to 79th place after losing one round.
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