India’s top seed Narayanan S L led the charge with a solid win over Vietnam’s Nguyen Duc Hoa, while Diptayan Ghosh and two other Indian Grandmasters (GMs) also registered clinical victories in round four of the Delhi International Open Monday.

Adding to India’s strong showing at the top, International Master (IM) Dinesh Sharma and IM Harsh Suresh notched up important wins to stay in the lead group, while GM Aditya S Samant continued his consistent run with another solid victory, keeping himself in contention. Among international players, GM Manuel Petrosyan, GM Mihail Nikitenko, GM Mamikon Gharibyan, GM Boris Savchenko and GM Luka Paichadze also continued their winning runs with confident performances.

The day also saw key draws in closely-contested games, including GM Aleksej Aleksandrov vs GM Karthik Venkataraman, and IM Aronyak Ghosh vs GM Mikulas Manik, as top boards fought to hold ground in an increasingly tight field. A noteworthy performance came from Bivor Adak, who held GM Pantsulaia Levan to a draw, a result that reflects the grit and growth of India’s grassroots chess talent.

Now in its 21st edition, the Delhi GM Open continues to draw global attention as Asia’s largest classical-format open chess tournament. With over 2,500 participants from more than 20 countries, including 24 GMs, the tournament carries a record prize pool of Rs 1.21 crore.