JOIN USInternational master Aleksander Wohl of Australia defeated Grandmaster Swapnil Dhopade to be among joint leaders after the end of the eighth and penultimate round of the Commonwealth Chess Championship here at the Leela Ambience.
With just one round to go in the Rs 10 lakh championship, Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta, Vaibhav Suri and Wohl share the lead on 6.5 points apiece. As many as five players – Tejas Bakre, M S Thej Kumar, Erigaisi Arjun, Abhijit Kunte and P Shyamnikhil share the fourth spot having six points apiece.
The final round on Monday will see Gupta crossing swords with Wohl.
It was not an easy outing though for Gupta who was relegated to a slightly worse position against Bakre. However, a timely queen exchange led to a slightly better position for Bakre when the draw was agreed.
Erigaisi Arjun caused a sensational upset of the day defeating Aravindh Chithambaram.
In the women’s championship Tania Sachdev and Mary Ann Gomes emerged as the expected new leaders on 5.5 points following victories over Srija Seshadri and Bala Kanamma respectively. The pairings for the last round will decide who meets tougher opposition but as of now it seems Tania holds some advantage thanks to her high rating.
Results round 8: Tejas Bakre (6) drew Abhijeet Gupta (6.5); Vaibhav Suri (6.5) bt Shardul Gagare (5.5); Aleksander Wohl (6.5) bt Swapnil Dhopade (5.5); Pravin Thipsay (5.5) lt to M S Thej Kumar (6); Aravindh Chithambaram (5) lt to Erigaisi Arjun (6); Ziaur Rahman (5.5) drew M N Sheikh (5.5); M Guha (5) lt to Abhijit Kunte (6); Rishi Sardana (5.5) drew Abdulla Al Rakib (5.5); P Shyam Nikhil (6) bt M C Reddy (5); Swati Ghate (5) drew Sahaj Grover (5).