Even as Russian Grand Master Maxim Turov inched towards the title with two more rounds to go, Indian players had a field day in the Chennai Open chess tournament at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium on Monday. Maxim defeated Marat Dzhumaev of Uzbekistan to go one point ahead of the rest of the pack at the end of the ninth round.
R Sidharth (Tamil Nadu) continued his fine run when he quelled the challenge of GM Martyn Kravysiv of Ukraine in an aggressive game comprising 53 moves. The win earned him his maiden GM norm. Six other Indians — P Shyam Nikil (Tamil Nadu), Anwesh Upadhyaya, Swayam Mishra (both Orissa), Vaibhav Suri (Delhi), Fenil Shah and Ankit Rajpara (both Gujarat) secured IM norms.
Important results: M Dzhumaev (7) lost to M Turov (8.5), A Upadhyaya (7) lost to R Jumabayev (7.5), Z Rahman (7.5) bt M Mikulas (6.5), MR Lalith Babu (7.5) bt S Nikil (6.5), V Kamble (7.5) bt SA Prasad (6), A Jayaram (7) bt EG Maghami (6).
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