Local lad Bitan Banerjee also made it memorable earning his third and final IM norm.
Sole leader Venkatesh drew against Deep Sengupta to make it seven points and was followed by Deep Sengupta, Dhopade, G N Gopal and FM Anurag Mhamal with six points each.
Dhopade of Railways confirmed his maiden GM norm with a draw against Abhijit Kunte in a Bogo-Indian defence.
Goa's Mhamal also achieved his maiden GM norm by getting the better of GM Sahaj Grover in a sharp tactical game with English opening.
Bitan drew against GM M R Latith Babu in a hard-fought double rook ending and now needs to raise his rating to Elo 2400 to seal his IM title.
On the second board, GM G N Gopal drew against GM S Arun Prasad in 33 moves in a Cambridge Springs defence.
Vidit Gujrathi made short work of IM P Kartikeyan in a rook ending which arose from a Nimzo Indian defence in 42 moves.
Diptayan Ghosh held Dibyendu Barua to a draw in 44 moves in a Catalan Opening.
Results Round 9
GM Deep Sengupta (6) drew GM M R Venkatesh (7); GM S Arun Prasad (5.5) drew GM G N Gopal (6); FM Anurag Mhamal (6) bt GM Sahaj Grover (5.5); IM Swapnil Dhopade (6) drew GM Abhijit Kunte (5.5); IM P Kartikeyan (5) lost to IM Vidit Gujarathi (6); GM Deepan Chakraborthy (5) lost to GM B.Adhiban (5.5); IM Debashis Das (4.5) GM S.P. Sethuraman (4.5); IM S Satyapragyan (5) drew GM Praveen Thipsay (5); GM S Kidambi (4) lost to G Akash (5.5); GM M R Lalith Babu (4.5) drew Bitan Banerjee (4.5); GM Neelotpal Das (5) bt FM Aravindh Chithambaram (4); FM Diptayan Ghosh (4.5) drew GM Dibyendu Barua (4.5); K Praneeth Surya (5) bt IM Saptarshi Roy (4); S L Narayanan (4) lost to Sagar Shah (5); FM V A V Rajesh (3.5) lost to WGM Mary Ann Gomes (4.5); Sashikant Kutwal (3.5) lost to IM Swayams Mishra (4.5); Ram S Krishnan (3.5) drew Suvrajit Saha (3.5); Arindam Mukherjee (3) lost to IM C Praveen Kumar (4); Pratik Patil (3.5) drew B T Murali Krishnan (3.5); C R G Krishna (3.5) drew S Ravi Teja (3.5); Sohan Phadke (2) lost to M L Abhilash Reddy(4); Murali Kartikeyan (4) got a bye.
