Indian Grandmaster (GM) Abhijeet Gupta surged into sole lead at the Delhi GM Open after a clinical Round 9 victory over Belarusian Mihail Nikitenko on Friday. With this win, Gupta now sits atop the leader board with 8 points from 9 rounds, positioning himself as the frontrunner for the championship ahead of the final round.

Gupta, playing with white, outmaneuvered co-leader Nikitenko in a sharp encounter and the result also pushed the Belarusian into the chasing pack with 7 points. Among the other key matchups, Armenian GM Mamikon Gharibyan and Indian GM SL Narayanan played out a draw, taking both to 7 points each.

Vietnamese GM Nguyen Van Huy held India’s GM Diptayan Ghosh to a draw, with both the players moving to 7 points. Swedish GM Vitaly Sivuk drew with IM Nitin S to remain in the tightly packed 7-point group.

Meanwhile, GM Aditya S Samant scored a crucial win over Belarusian GM Aleksej Aleksandrov, moving to 7.5 points. Joining him in second place is IM Aronyak Ghosh, who defeated IM Sharnarthi Viresh to climb to 7.5 points.