Nikitenko joins Gupta atop Delhi GM Open

New Delhi

Belarusian Grandmaster Mihail Nikitenko defeated Georgian GM Luka Paichadze in Round 8 of the 21st Delhi International Open Grandmasters Chess Tournament, catching up with India’s Abhijeet Gupta at the top. Both now lead with 7 points, with just two rounds remaining in the tournament’s top Category A section.

Abhijeet Gupta, a three-time winner of the Delhi GM Open, played out a tough draw against Armenian GM Manuel Petrosyan in Round 8. Their game was intense but ended evenly, giving each player half a point.

Top seed GM SL Narayan also drew his game with Indian IM Neelash Saha, keeping them just half a point behind the leaders. GM Diptayan Ghosh beat Russian GM Boris Savchenko to also reach 6.5 points.

Other notable winners in Round 8 included GMs Aditya S Samant, Mamikon Gharibyan, and Aleksej Aleksandrov. They are still a point behind the leaders.

Meanwhile, Category C continues with 1,250 players competing for a prize pool of ₹35 lakhs. The section ends on June 14, with ₹4 lakhs for the winner.