Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran remained on course for a place amongst the top after settling for a hard-earned draw with Grandmaster Vladimir Akopian of Armenia in the seventh round of the 'A1' section of Aeroflot International Open chess tournament in Moscow.
Grandmaster Sandipan Chanda also raised visions of a finish amongst the prize-winners in one of the strongest open events in the world with a scintillating victory over Russian-turned-American Alexander Shabalov.
The lead position in the 'A1' section remained unchanged as Pavel Eljanov of Ukraine quickly signed peace with former World junior champion Kiril Georgiev of Bulgaria on the top board and inched up to 5.5 points in this section.
With just two rounds left in the US $25,000 first-prize tournament, Sasikiran is in joint second spot on five points while Chanda has four points in his kitty.
In the 'A2' section International Master Neelotpal Das remained in contention for his third and final GM norm after taking a draw with GM Lev Psakhis of Israel. Das needs to meet at least one GM in the next two rounds to fulfill his requirements.
In the next round, the Indian is pitted against IM David Arutinian of Armenia and will have to win in order to expect a GM in the final round game.
As many as six players including former Indian women's team trainer Ruslan Scherbakov of Russia share the top spot in this section while Das is on five points.
The other GM-norm prospects from India suffered decisive setbacks in their quest as Parimarjan Negi was beaten by Dmitry Frolyanov of Russia.
Playing the white side of a Petroff defense, Negi fell under acute time pressure and blundered away a level position in the middle game.
Deep Sengupta's GM norm prospects also evaporated after he drew a tense game with Alexander A Evdokimov of Russia.
Deep took his tally to 4 points in 'A2' and still has a chance to finish in prize list along with GM R B Ramesh (4.5 points).
There was good news from Indian perspective in the 'B' group as International Master Prathamesh Mokal defeated David Kalashian of Armenia who played white. The victory helped Mokal to move up to six points and the Pune-based is now on joint second spot in this section. The leader here is Davit Petrosian of Armenia who has seven points and looks a sure bet for the title with just one round remaining.
Sasikiran had to defend a difficult opening against Akopian who employed the Ruy Lopez closed as white. It turned out to be a good choice optically as Sasikiran was left to defend against greater space control of white but the Indian found counter play on the king side to neutralise white's initiative. Routine exchanges led to an equal rook and pawns endgame and the peace was signed after 47 moves.
Chanda gave a fantastic performance in the queen less middle game against Shabalov. Earlier, Shabalov had opted for the open Ruy Lopez as black and obtained a reasonable position after the opening. However, soon after the queen got traded Chanda was at his best as he first knocked down a pawn and later followed it with a tactical sequence that led to a piece plus endgame. Shabalov called it a day on his 55th turn.
Important and Indian results round 7 (Indians unless specified):
Group A1: Kiril Georgiev Bul (5) drew with Pavel Eljanov (Ukr, 5.5); Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 5) drew with Mamedyarov Shakriyar (Aze, 5); Vladimir Akopian (Arm, 5) drew with Krishnan Sasikiran (5); Vladimir Malakhov (Rus, 5) beat Laurent Fressinet (Fra, 4); Dmitry Jakovenko (Rus, 4.5) drew with Baadur Jobava (Geo, 4.5); Sandipan Chanda ( 4) beat Alexandar Shabalov (Usa, 3); Ni Hua (Chn, 2) lost to Surya Shekhar Ganguly (3).
Group A2: Neelotpal Das (5) drew with Lev Psakhis (Isr, 5); R B Ramesh (4.5) drew with Sergei Ivanov (Rus, 4.5); Parimarjan Negi ( 3.5) lost to Dmitry Frolyanov (Rus, 4.5); Deep Sengupta (4) drew with Alexander A Evdokimov (Rus, 4); Vladimir Burmakin (Rus, 4) beat R R Laxman (3); Sarunas Sulskis (Ltu, 4) beat P Konguvel (3); Antoaneta Stefanova (Bul, 4) beat Argyhyadip Das (3); Alexander Potapov (Rus, 2.5) lost to Abhijeet Gupta (3.5); Nikolai Kurenkov (Rus, 2.5) lost to Vishal Sareen (3.5); Dmitry Batsanin (Rus, 2) lost to S Poobesh Anand (3); Aeksandar Rakhmanov (Rus, 2.5) drew with Himanshu Sharma (2.5).
Group 'B' round 8: David Kalashian (Arm, 5) lost to Prathmesh Mokal (6); Turkan Mamedjarova (Aze, 4) drew with Saptarshi Roy Chowdhary (4); Eugenia Chasovnikova (Rus, 3.5 ) lost to Dinesh K Sharma (4.5); N Srinath (2.5) lost to Valeri Zolotukhin (Rus, 3.5).