Maletin thus took the sole lead with eight points while Negi along with Russian Dmitry Bocharov, who beat Uzbek Grandmaster Saidali Iuldachev, are trailing the leader by half a point in the Rs eight lakh prize money championship.
Playing with white pieces in Slav Defence, Maletin produced great attacking moves towards the end to inflict a 43-move defeat on the Indian rival. The young Negi’s prepared line in Slav Defence went haywire on the 24th move, a point from where the Russian kept getting stronger.
Mumbai youngster Prasanna Rao held Asian Chess Championship bronze medalist Grandmaster Abhijit Gupta to a creditable draw.
Assembly Elections 2021 | Catch all the news updates here
Deccan Herald News now on Telegram - Click here to subscribe
The Covid-19 pandemic unravelled - in 84 million Tweets
Vidya's 'Sherni' makes a decent impact
Rohingya refugees take up photography to document life
Why American women everywhere are delaying motherhood
Diamond found in Botswana, could be world's 3rd largest
Four key questions on rising global inflation
Naomi Osaka withdraws from Wimbledon, targets Olympics