<p>Double GM norm holder Vaibhav Suri came within striking distance of his final Grandmaster norm after defeating Alexei Iljushin of Russia in Group ‘B’ of the Aeroflot International open chess tournament.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Suri took his tally to 5.5 points out of the possible eight, and a victory against A Grishchenko of Russia will fetch him the coveted Grandmaster title. The fact that the young Indian won with black, and will have white pieces in the last game, is certainly a confidence booster.<br /><br />Indian results (round eight, Indians unless specified otherwise): Group ‘A’: K Sasikiran (4.5) drew Aleksandr Rakhmanov (Rus, 4.5); Markus Ragger (Aut, 5) bt SP Sethuraman (4); Adam Tukhaev (Ukr, 4.5) drew Abhijeet Gupta (4.5); Ni Hua (Chn, 4.5) bt Vidit Gujrathi (3.5); Andrey Zhigalko (Blr, 4.5) bt Sandipan Chanda (3.5); Ghaem Maghami Ehsan (3.5) drew Parimarjan Negi (3.5); Pavel Ponkratov (Rus, 4) bt B Adhiban (3); MR Venkatesh (2.5) lt to GN Gopal (3.5); Mikhail Ulibin (Rus, 2.5) drew M Shyam Sundar (3); D Harika (2.5) drew Shen Yang (Chn, 2.5). <br /><br />Group ‘B’ (eighth round): S Arun Prasad (5) drew Munguntuul Batkhuyag (Mgl, 5); Alexei Iljushin (Rus, 4.5) lt to Vaibhav Suri (5.5); Wei Yi (Chn, 4.5) lt to MR Lalith Babu (5.5); Firat Burak (Tur, 4.5) lt to P Shyam Nikil (5.5); Nikita Matinian (Rus, 5) bt Sahaj Grover (4); Tejas Bakre (4.5) drew S Kidambi (4.5); Eesha Karavade (4) lt to Roman Ovetchkin (Rus, 5); Illner Achim (Ger, 4.5) drew Deepan Chakkravarthy (4.5); Andrey Rychagov (Rus, 4.5) bt Swayams Mishra (3.5); Diptayan Ghosh (4.5) bt Ekaterina Kovalevskaya (Rus, 3.5); Ankit Rajpara (4) drew Andreas Diermair (Aut, 4); G Froewis (Aut, 4) drew Soumya Swaminathan (4); Arkady Shevelev (Isr, 4) drew S Nitin (4); Debashis Das (4.5) bt Alexander Hernandez (Ven, 3.5); Padmini Rout (3) lt to Namig Guliyev (Aze, 4); Deysi Cori (Per, 4) bt Nisha Mohota (3); Manuel Petrosyan (Arm, 3) lt to Akshayraj Kore (4); Shardul Gagare (3) drew Ilia Iljiushenok (Rus, 3); Ynojosa Felix Jose (Ven, 2.5); Mary Ann Gomes (3) bt Jouri Goriatchkin (Rus, 2); B Pratyusha (2) lt to SL Narayanan (3).<br />Group ‘C’ (final round): Gleb Apryshko (Rus, 7.5) bt Aravindh Chithambaram (6.5); Nasanjargal Urtnasan (Mgl, 6.5) drew KG Chaithanyaa (6.5): Sumiya Bilguun (Mgl, 5.5) lt to Akash Iyer (6.5); PV Nandhidhaa (5.5) drew Vladimir Kozlov (Rus, 5.5): M Mahalakshmi (5) lt to Rettore Ludwig (Ita, 6); Suren Poghosyan (Arm, 5) drew R Bharathi (5); Zaza Bargandzhiya (Rus, 4.5) lt to Bhakti Kulkarni (5.5); Aryan Tari (Nor, 5.5) bt G Lasya (4.5); Niklesh Jain (5) drew Mark Basencyan (Arm, 5).</p>
<p>Double GM norm holder Vaibhav Suri came within striking distance of his final Grandmaster norm after defeating Alexei Iljushin of Russia in Group ‘B’ of the Aeroflot International open chess tournament.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Suri took his tally to 5.5 points out of the possible eight, and a victory against A Grishchenko of Russia will fetch him the coveted Grandmaster title. The fact that the young Indian won with black, and will have white pieces in the last game, is certainly a confidence booster.<br /><br />Indian results (round eight, Indians unless specified otherwise): Group ‘A’: K Sasikiran (4.5) drew Aleksandr Rakhmanov (Rus, 4.5); Markus Ragger (Aut, 5) bt SP Sethuraman (4); Adam Tukhaev (Ukr, 4.5) drew Abhijeet Gupta (4.5); Ni Hua (Chn, 4.5) bt Vidit Gujrathi (3.5); Andrey Zhigalko (Blr, 4.5) bt Sandipan Chanda (3.5); Ghaem Maghami Ehsan (3.5) drew Parimarjan Negi (3.5); Pavel Ponkratov (Rus, 4) bt B Adhiban (3); MR Venkatesh (2.5) lt to GN Gopal (3.5); Mikhail Ulibin (Rus, 2.5) drew M Shyam Sundar (3); D Harika (2.5) drew Shen Yang (Chn, 2.5). <br /><br />Group ‘B’ (eighth round): S Arun Prasad (5) drew Munguntuul Batkhuyag (Mgl, 5); Alexei Iljushin (Rus, 4.5) lt to Vaibhav Suri (5.5); Wei Yi (Chn, 4.5) lt to MR Lalith Babu (5.5); Firat Burak (Tur, 4.5) lt to P Shyam Nikil (5.5); Nikita Matinian (Rus, 5) bt Sahaj Grover (4); Tejas Bakre (4.5) drew S Kidambi (4.5); Eesha Karavade (4) lt to Roman Ovetchkin (Rus, 5); Illner Achim (Ger, 4.5) drew Deepan Chakkravarthy (4.5); Andrey Rychagov (Rus, 4.5) bt Swayams Mishra (3.5); Diptayan Ghosh (4.5) bt Ekaterina Kovalevskaya (Rus, 3.5); Ankit Rajpara (4) drew Andreas Diermair (Aut, 4); G Froewis (Aut, 4) drew Soumya Swaminathan (4); Arkady Shevelev (Isr, 4) drew S Nitin (4); Debashis Das (4.5) bt Alexander Hernandez (Ven, 3.5); Padmini Rout (3) lt to Namig Guliyev (Aze, 4); Deysi Cori (Per, 4) bt Nisha Mohota (3); Manuel Petrosyan (Arm, 3) lt to Akshayraj Kore (4); Shardul Gagare (3) drew Ilia Iljiushenok (Rus, 3); Ynojosa Felix Jose (Ven, 2.5); Mary Ann Gomes (3) bt Jouri Goriatchkin (Rus, 2); B Pratyusha (2) lt to SL Narayanan (3).<br />Group ‘C’ (final round): Gleb Apryshko (Rus, 7.5) bt Aravindh Chithambaram (6.5); Nasanjargal Urtnasan (Mgl, 6.5) drew KG Chaithanyaa (6.5): Sumiya Bilguun (Mgl, 5.5) lt to Akash Iyer (6.5); PV Nandhidhaa (5.5) drew Vladimir Kozlov (Rus, 5.5): M Mahalakshmi (5) lt to Rettore Ludwig (Ita, 6); Suren Poghosyan (Arm, 5) drew R Bharathi (5); Zaza Bargandzhiya (Rus, 4.5) lt to Bhakti Kulkarni (5.5); Aryan Tari (Nor, 5.5) bt G Lasya (4.5); Niklesh Jain (5) drew Mark Basencyan (Arm, 5).</p>