Overnight leaders, GM Lalit Babu (India) and IM Arsen Davtyan (Armenia) ended their match in a draw, leaving the door open for others contenders to share joint lead after Round 6 of the Rs 40 lakh prize money Aurionpro International Grandmaster and Junior Chess Tournament at the World Trade Centre on Sunday. After six rounds, five players are tied at 5.5/6, setting up a thrilling race to the finish.
In one of the biggest upsets of the tournament, IM Nayaka Buddhidharma (Indonesia), held top seed GM Levan Pantsulaia (Georgia) to a well-earned draw. In other matches, GM Manuel Petrosyan (Armenia) took full advantage, winning a fine game with the White pieces against Alexander Slizhevsky (Russia), while GM Aleksej Aleksandrov (Belarus) also made a statement by defeating GM Luka Paichadze (Georgia) in convincing fashion.
In the Under-13 section, both FM Aansh Nandan Nerurkar and CM Madhesh Kumar maintained their unbeaten records after a hard-fought draw on the top board. They continue to share the lead with 5.5/6 points apiece.
A tight chase pack of six players on 5.0/6 — including CM Madhvendra Sharma, Shaunak Badole, Aadik Lenin, Adhiraj Mitra, Advik Agrawal, and Ramanuja Mishra — keeps the competition fierce heading into the final three rounds.
