Mumbai International Chess: Indians Lalit Babu, Neelotpal lead in three-way tie
Mumbai: Indian Grandmasters Lalit Babu and Neelotpal Das scored impressive victories in the eighth round to jump into a joint three-player lead, along with GM Gharibyan Mamikon, in the Mumbai International Grandmaster Chess Tournament at the World Trade Centre, here on Tuesday.
While Lalit Babu defeated GM Alexei Fedorov with white pieces in 39 moves, Neelotpal got the better of IM Arsen Davtyan. Gharibyan Mamikon delivered a major upset, defeating tournament leader GM Aleksej Aleksandrov with the black pieces to stake his claim among the leaders, with 7 points from 8 matches.
Nine players — including GM Aleksandrov, GM Levan Pantsulaia, GM Manuel Petrosyan, GM Deepan Chakkravarthy, and GM Nguyen Duc Hoa — are right behind with 6.5/8.
In the Junior Section, FM Aansh Nerurkar bounced back with a powerful win over CM Madhvendra Sharma, while CM Madhesh Kumar was held to a draw by Advik Agrawal. Both Aansh and Madhesh now lead jointly with 7/8 points. Hot on their heels are CM Vyom Malhotra, Advik Agrawal, and Shaunak Badole, all tied with 6.5/8.
Earlier on Monday, the Mumbai International Grandmaster Chess Tournament witnessed a shift in momentum in the 7th round as veteran GM Aleksej Aleksandrov of Belarus surged to the top of the leaderboard with an emphatic victory at the World Trade Centre, here.
In the junior section, Candidate Master Madhesh Kumar from Pondicherry emerged as the sole leader by defeating Ramanu Mishra to move to 6.5 out of 7. His consistent performance makes him the top contender for the title, especially as tournament favourite and top seed FM Aansh Nerurkar was held to a draw by Shaunak Badole on board.
In the seventh round of the Grandmaster section, the top-board clash between Armenian compatriots GM Manuel Petrosyan and IM Arsen Davtyan ended in a quick 16-move draw, with both players opting for a cautious, safety-first approach. A similar outcome was seen on board 2, where GM Mamikon Gharibyan and Indian GM Lalit Babu settled for a 36-move draw in the Ruy Lopez.