Pune, Jul 7 (PTI) Top-seed Indian Abhijeet Gupta strengthened his grip on the leaderboard with a commanding victory in the eighth round of the Pune International Grandmaster Round Robin Chess Tournament here on Tuesday.
Indian International Masters Aswath S and Kushagra Mohan also posted impressive victories to remain firmly in contention for the title.
With one round remaining, Abhijeet leads the standings with 6.5 points, while Aswath and Kushagra are placed second and third respectively with 6.0 points each.
The ninth and final round, to be played on Wednesday, will decide the champion, with all three Indians still in the title race.
On the top board, Abhijeet outplayed IM Vaidyanathan Kannan (USA) in convincing fashion.
Aswath defeated fellow Indian IM Akshay Borgaonkar, while IM Nitish Belurkar produced a fighting draw against Belarusian Grandmaster Aleksandrov Aleksej.
Aswath, currently second in the standings, will secure his Grandmaster title if he wins the final round game.
Kushagra, meanwhile, is one victory away from earning a coveted Grandmaster norm. He produced another impressive performance to defeat Sri Lanka’s IM LMST De Silva.
Playing with the white pieces, Kushagra opened with the Ruy Lopez variation, while De Silva opted for the Spanish opening.
Despite briefly allowing his opponent an opportunity with an inaccurate move, Kushagra kept his composure. As the game entered the rook endgame, De Silva committed a decisive error, allowing Kushagra to seize the advantage and convert it into a well-earned victory.
Pune’s FIDE Master Advik Agarwal also delivered an impressive performance by holding experienced Grandmaster Fedorov Alexei to a draw. PTI SSC SSC PDS PDS
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