After the nine rounds of the 19th Delhi International Chess Tournament, the confusion about who will win the title has increased, but it has been decided that only an Indian player will win the title this time. Just before the final round, India's national champions Arjun Erigasi, D Gukesh, Abhijeet Gupta, SP Sethuraman and Harsha Bharatkothi are on a joint lead with 7.5 points and none of the players who won the last round has become winners on the basis of a tiebreak.
Just before the ninth round, Arjun, Gukesh and Harsha were on a joint lead, in such a way that the match played between Arjun Erigasi and D Gukesh on the first board in the Sicilian Nazdorf opening was a draw in 44 moves, while on the second board, the match between Neelesh Shaha and Harsha Bharatkothi was also inconclusive. On the third board, Abhijit Gupta defeated Purmosavi Syed Qian of Iran in the four-night opening with black pawns, while on the fourth board, FC Sethurman defeated Pavel Pankratov of Russia in 39 moves in the QGD opening with black pawns to advance to the joint lead.
Now in the 10th round, Abhijeet Gupta will face Gukesh, Sethuraman will face Harsha and Arjun will face Kartik Venkatran and in such a situation, whoever is going to register a direct victory can capture the title.
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