Kanpur, Mar 2 (Chess News) Tamil Nadu Grandmaster D Gukesh defeated former national champion Abhijeet Gupta of PSPB in the penultimate round here on Wednesday to catch up with overnight leader Arjun Erigaisi of Telangana as the Senior National Chess Championship is headed for a close finish.
In top board battles in the tenth round, second seed Erigaisi agreed for a draw against Grandmaster P Iniyan of Tamil Nadu after 41 moves, while defending champion Aravindh Chithambaram and Delhi Grandmaster Aryan Chopra signed peace after 63 moves.
Playing with black pieces in a Nimzo-Indian Samisch variation, Gukesh showed immense discipline and skills in the endgame to beat Abhijeet in 64 moves to climb to the top spot along with Erigaisi on eight points.
Gukesh and Erigaisi have a slender half point lead over nearest rivals – defending champion Aravindh Chithambaram, former champion S P Sethuraman, Aryan Chopra, Mitrabha Guha, P Iniyan, N R Visakh and V Pranav with one round to go.
The final round will be played on Thursday.
Meanwhile Utsab Chatterjee, Anustoop Biswas of West Bengal and Sambit Panda of Odisha completed their requirements to achieve nine-game International Master norms during the event and many players are eyeing to complete their international title norms in the final round.
Important Results: Round 10: Arjun Erigaisi (Telangana) (8) drew with P Iniyan (TN) (7.5); Aravindh Chithambaram (TN) (7.5) drew with Aryan Chopra (Delhi) (7.5); Abhijeet Gupta (6.5) lost to D Gukesh (8); Swapnil S Dhopade (Railways) (6.5) lost to S P Sethuraman (PSPB) (7.5); M R Lalith Babu (6.5) lost to V Pranav (7.5); N R Visakh ( Railways) (7.5) beat Aronyak Ghosh (West Bengal) (6.5); Mitrabha Guha (West Bengal) (7.5) beat Sambit Panda (Odisha) (6.5); Karthikeyan Murali (PSPB) (7) beat K Ratnakaran (Railways) (6.5); Sammed Jaykumar Shete (Maharashtra) (6.5) drew with B Adhiban (PSPB) (6.5) Round 9: Pranav lost to Arjun Erigaisi; Gukesh drew with Iniyan; Swapnil Dhopade drew with Aravindh Chithambaram; Abhijeet Gupta drew with Lalith Babu; Aryan Chopra beat Aditya Mittal; Visakh drew with Mitrabha Guha; Adhiban drew with P Shyaamnikhil; Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh drew with Karthikeyan Murali; Sethuraman beat R R Laxman; G B Harshvardhan drew with Deep Sengupta.
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News Source : PTI
