Grandmaster Nihal Sarin stopped Parham Maghsoodloo's unbeaten run with a brilliant victory to join the leaders after the seventh round of the FIDE Grand Swiss, while R Vaishali also regained sole lead in the women's section.
However, world champion D Gukesh's struggles continued as he slumped to a third straight defeat, this time against Turkey's Ediz Gurel, slipping out of contention and down to 10th in the live world rankings with four rounds yet to go.
Vaishali, a winner in the previous edition held in Isle of Man in United Kingdom, outclassed her Chinese counterpart in the seventh round and is now half a point behind Russian Kateryna Lagno.
Also read: Abhimanyu stuns Gukesh, becomes youngest to beat world champion
The day however belonged to Sarin who came up with some exemplary display on both flanks. The Queen pawn opening as white worked well for Nihal as he was able to push for an advantage with little at stake and Maghsoodloo erred in calculation when it really mattered.
Nihal set up a brilliant finish with the help of his queen and knight and handed Maghsoodloo his first loss in the tournament. With this victory, Nihal shot into joint lead along with Germany's Bluebaum, who defeated higher ranked Indian Arjun Erigaisi.
Vaishali also displayed her superior skills to get the better of Guo Qi. The Petroff defence was met suitably and Vaishali got a chance to go for a king side attack. The Indian is known for her attacking skills and did not disappoint in finding out the precise move order.
In the open section, defending champion Vidit Gujrathi came back in reckoning with a victory over French GM Marcandria Maurizzi, while R Praggnanandhaa also made a fine recovery to beat Maxim Rodshtein of Israel.
Follow us
