The win fetched the Kerala youngster his third and final International Master Norm. His first two IM Norms also came in Chennai during the World Junior Championships in 2011 and the Commonwealth Championships 2012.
Meanwhile, GM Henrik Teske of Germany moved into sole lead after defeating Uzbek GM Marat Dzhumaev with black pieces. The win places Henrik Teske on top of the table with 7.5 points.
Teske is closely followed at 7.0 points by GMs Aleksandrov Aleksej (Belarus), Deviatkin Andrei (Russia), Kayumov Dmitry (Uzbekistan), Adhiban Baskaran, M R Lalith Babu (both India), Niaz Murshed (Bangladesh), Lu Shanglei (China), IMs Swapnil S Dhopade (India), Kuderinov Kirill (Kazakhstan) along with IM Norm achievers S L Narayanan (India) and Wan Yunguo (China).
Two more rounds remain to be played in this event.
Round 9 Results (Indians unless specified):
Wan Yunguo (Chn, 7) drew with Aleksandrov Aleksej (Blr) 7; Swapnil S Dhopade (7) drew with Adhiban Baskaran (7); M R Lalith Babu (7) drew with Niaz Murshed (Ban, 7); Lu Shanglei (Chn, 7) drew with S L Narayanan (7); Marat Dzhumaev (Uzb, 6) lost to Henrik Teske (Ger) 7.5; Deviatkin Andrei (Rus, 7) bt S Nitin (6); Ramnath Bhuvnesh (6.5) drew with Ziaur Rahman (Ban, 6.5); C Praveen Kumar (6) lost to Kuderinov Kirill (Kaz, 7); Harsha Bharathakoti (6) lost to Kayumov Dmitry (Uzb, 7); P Shyam Nikil (6.5) drew with Aravindh Chithambaram (6.5); Czebe Attila (Hun, 6.5) bt B S Shivananda (6); Jayakumar Adarsh (USA, 5.5) lost to Rakesh Kumar Jena (6.5); N Krishna Teja (5.5) drew with Raset Ziatdinov (USA, 5.5).