New Delhi: Untitled Niranjan Navalgund made his maiden Grandmaster norm despite losing to Grandmaster Dzhumaev Marat of Uzbekistan in the ninth and penultimate round of 15th Parsvnath Delhi International chess tournament now underway here.

Having secured 6.5 points against high ranking opposition in the first eight rounds, Navalgund only had to turn up to play his game in the ninth round and despite the loss his performance thus far was good enough for a grandmaster norm. Being untitled, Navalgund has set a new benchmark for youngsters and the Chennai-based author looks good to be a Grandmaster in quick time.

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Meanwhile Grandmaster Farrukh Amanotov of Tajikistan stayed ahead of the field with a quick draw against Swayams Mishra. With 8 points in his kitty, Amanotov remains the sole leader and is now trailed by Diptayan Ghosh and Dzhmaev who both are a half point behind.

The Rs. 18 Lakh tournament will come to an end on Monday and it seems Amanotov is the hot favourite at this point. However as the last round pairings suggest Diptayan Ghosh has a task on hand if he can win against the top ranked player here.

Local hopeful Sahaj Grover has a chance to finish in top ten if he can win his last round game against Saptarshi Roy. However the Bengal International Master is in top form here.

Marat Dzhumaev has been in best form in the last few games and all eyes will be on him in the last round too. His uncompromising style calls for a scintillating finish to this year’s event.

For the next year, the prize money bar has been raised to over Rs. 77 lakhs. The Delhi International is the highest attended event in the country with participation of over 2000 players.

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