Grandmaster Nguyen Anh Dung of Vietnam scored a facile victory over Chinese GM Zhang Peng Xiang (5.5) in the eighth round to become the sole leader with seven points in the Commonwealth chess championship in Mumbai on Friday.
Thursday's joint leader with Dung and top seeded GM Rustom Kasimzanov (6.5) of Uzbekistan was held to a draw by his compatriot and International Master Marta Zumaev (6).
13-year-old International Woman Master Dronavali Harika surprised her experienced compatriot Saptarishi Roy Choudhary (4.5) to claim her maiden Woman GM norm with two rounds to spare.
If she can manage even one point, Harika has chances of winning an International Master (men) norm.
GM Dibyednu Barua (6) retained his leading position among the Indians despite being held to a draw by Latvian GM Igor Rausis (6) while another Indian Sandipan Chanda's (5) hopes of gaining his final GM norm suffered a severe setback when he went down without a fight to Russian GM Evegney Vladimirov (6).
GM Krishnan Sasikiran (6) caught up with Barua after scoring a fighting win over veteran GM Pravin Thipsay (5) in King's Indian defence. Though Thipsay was two pawns ahead, he was helpless against Sasikiran's dangerous passers in the queen and pawn ending.
Eighth round results: M Dzhumaev (6) drew with R Kasimdzhanov (6.5), N A Dung (7) beat Z P Xiang (5.5), K Sasikiran beat P Thipsay (5), D Barua (6) drew with I Rausis (5.5) L Saidali (6) beat V Kotronias (5), E Valdimirov (6) beat S Chanda (5), M Sorokim (6) beat N Das (5), S S Ganguly (5.5) drew with S Vijayalakshmi (5.5).