Naiditsch a draw away from the Delhi Chess title

Top seed GM Arkadij Naiditsch drew in the ninth round with untitled Indian Akash Pc Iyer to take a step closer to the Delhi International Open Chess title here.

IM Md. Nubairshah Shaikh, rated 2380, managed to beat IM P. Karthikeyan (2497) to complete his GM norm as well.

Naiditsch offered a draw after 13 moves with the black pieces in a Queen's Gambit Declined Exchange Variation. This ensured a GM norm for the young Tamil Nadu boy who has already completed the IM norm requirements.

Naiditsch thus took a step towards sealing the Delhi GM Open title. With 8.0/9, the Azeri grandmaster just needs a draw in the tenth and final round against Italian GM David Alberto to seal the win.
 

Shaikh was white against IM Karthikeyan and the game was a Nimzo Indian Defence. On the nineteenth move, Nubair sacrificed an exchange for great control over the center and good pressure on black's pieces overall.

Black lost his concentration, blundering on the 26th move, allowing Nubair a deflection tactic and his first GM norm in due course.

Besides Akash and Nubair scoring their GM norms, Sammed Shete managed to complete his IM norm requirements after 9 rounds of play.

In the tenth and final round, Neelash Saha, Arjun Kalyan, and Kaustav Kundu need victories to complete their IM norm.

Fourteen-year-old Koustov Chatterjee, rated 2288, is already increasing 120 elo points. Tomorrow, playing the game will ensure an IM norm. Moreover, a draw against his opponent GM Adam Tukhaev is enough to seal his first GM norm.

Bangladeshi GM Ziaur Rahman managed to defeat Dutch GM Sergey Tiviakov, rated 2583. The Dutchman attacked the Bangladeshi's kingside with his knight, forgetting that the piece is undefended. Ziaur's calm 43.Qb7+ picked a free piece and the game.

Rahman is the only player in the second place with 7.5/9. Eight players follow, tied on the third spot with 7.0/9.

In some other some upsets, Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad managed to defeat the current Indian champion, GM Lalith Babu while Commonwealth Champion Abhijeet Gupta went down against IM Vignesh NR 2470 after Gupta blundered in an advantageous position.