Vietnamese Grandmaster Tran Tuan Minh (2524) emerged as the sole leader after recording a crucial victory over Indian challenger IM Visakh NR (2491) in the seventh round of the EKA | IIFL Investment Managers 4th Mumbai International Chess Tournament.
Visakh, playing with the white, went down to the Vietnam player on the top board.
The full point earned for this win has propelled the Vietnamese GM to 6.5 points which is one point clear than his closest rivals. He will now look to pick up more points in the remaining two rounds to emerge champion and add to his success at the Bhopal International GM Tournament in December 2018.
Visakh is now in fourth place and will be looking to gain at least 1.5 points in the last two games to make his third and final GM norm from this tournament.
GM Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh moved up six places in the rankings after his win over Australia’s IM Rishi Sardana on Board 3 and is now ranked in second place behind Tran.
IM Muthaiah Al moved up one place after his draw against GM Sandipan Chanda on Board 2 and is in third place after seven rounds.
IM Gukesh D, also on 5.5 points along with Visakh, Ziaur and Muthaiah, completes the top 5 after his win over top seed GM Aleksandrov Aleksej of Belarus. Two other players, GM Abhimanyu Puranik and GM Ivan Rozum of Russia are also in contention for second place with their 5.5 points, heading into Round 8.
Standings after Round 7: 1. GM Tran Tuan Minh (VIE) 6.5 pts, 2. GM Rahman Ziaur ( BAN) 5.5, 3. IM Muthaiah Al (IND) 5.5, 4. IM Visakh N.R. (IND) 5.5, 5. IM Gukesh D. (IND) 5.5, 6. GM Puranik Abhimanyu (IND) 5.5, 7. GM Rozum Ivan (RUS) 5.5, 8. GM Chanda Sandipan (IND) 5, 9. IM Sardana Rishi (AUS) 5, 10. Saurabh Anand (IND) 5, 11. GM Laxman R.R. (IND) 5, 12. IM Das Sayantan (IND) 5.