Prague (Czech Republic), March 6 Indian Grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram defeated Netherlands' Jorden van Foreest, but world champion D Gukesh's winless streak continued as he played out another draw, this time against Vincent Keymer of Germany in the eighth and penultimate round of the Prague International chess festival here.
Uzbekistan's Nodirbek Abdusattorov moved to the top position following a victory over local favourite David Navara.
With 5.5 points, Abdusattorov holds a half-point lead over van Foreest with just one round remaining. After winning the Tata Steel Masters earlier in February, this could well be the second super-event win for the young Uzbek.
Navara is the only player with 4.5 points, occupying the third spot, while Aravindh elevated himself to joint fourth spot with four points, along with Vincent Keymer and Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran.
Nodirbek Yakubboev of Uzbekistan, Hans Moke Niemann of the United States, and David Anton Guijarro of Spain are next in the standings with 3.5 points, a point ahead of last-placed Gukesh.
There was a lot of drama in the final stages of the day as Abdusattorov and Chithambaram both won from positions that looked like they would have resulted in easy draws.
Abdusattorov benefitted from a Bishop blunder by Navara in the rook and minor piece endgame, and Chithambaram got lucky as van Foreest also failed to spot a simple tactic in the endgame.
Gukesh drew with Keymer from a King pawn game.
"It's a typical position; if I had checked it for five minutes, I would have made a very easy draw, but if I didn't, there were so many options. It's kind of difficult for me to figure out what the right move was, and obviously I didn't find the right way," noted Keymer after the game.
As it turned out, Gukesh was able to complicate matters with a Queen sacrifice, which saw his pawn move to the seventh rank. However, breaking through Black's defenses did not prove to be easy, as Keymer eventually got the half-point.
In the challengers' section, which was being organised simultaneously, 16-year-old Czech International Master Finek Vanclav made another stride towards winning the title after holding Grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguly to a draw.
Another Indian Divya Deshmukh also drew with Nemec Jachym.
Results after round 8:
Masters: Nodirbek Yakubboev (UZB, 3.5) drew with Parham Maghsoodloo (IRI, 4); D Gukesh (IND, 2.5) drew with Vincent Keymer (GER, 4); Jorden van Foreest (NED, 5) lost to Aravindh Chithambaram (IND, 4); David Navara (CZE, 4.5) lost to Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB, 5.5); Hans Moke Niemann (USA, 3.5) beat David Anton Guijarro (ESP, 3.5).
Challengers: Zhu Jiner (CHN, 2.5) drew with Thomas Beerdsen (NED, 4); Daniil Yuffa (ESP, 5) beat Jonas Bjerre Buhl (DEN, 3.5); Finek Vanclav (CZE, 5.5) drew with Surya Shekhar Ganguly (IND, 3); Benjamin Gledura (HUN, 4.5) beat Hrbek Stepan (CZE, 3.5); Divya Deshmukh (IND, 4) drew with Nemec Jachym (CZE, 4.5).
