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Sarin beat compatriot S P Sethuraman but leader Daneshvar went a step ahead with his win over GM Abhimanyu Puranik to take his tally to an unassailable seven points.

Nihal Sarin. (X)
Indian Grandmaster Nihal Sarin registered his third win on the trot but still remained a full point behind leader Bardiya Daneshvar of Iran after the end of the eight and penultimate round of the Asian Individual Open Chess Championship on Wednesday.
Top seed Sarin, a pre-event favourite, beat compatriot S P Sethuraman but Daneshvar went a step ahead as he accounted for Indian Grandmaster Abhimanyu Puranik to take his tally to an unassailable seven points out of a possible eight.
With Sarin likely his opponent in the next round, the odds are in favour of the Iranian to clinch the gold medal here.
In the women’s section, Mungunzul Bat-Erdene of Mongolia made a decisive stride forward for the crown after defeating overnight joint leader Srija Sheshadri.
The Mongolian took her tally to seven points, enjoying a full point lead over her nearest rivals.
Important and Indian results Round 8 (Indians unless stated otherwise):
Bardiya Daneshvar (Iri, 7) beat Abhimanyu Puranik (5); Vokhidov Shamsiddin (Uzb, 6) drew with Ivan Zemlyanskii (Fid, 6); S P Sethuraman (5) lost to Nihal Sarin (6); G B Harshavardhan (5.5) drew with Murali Karthikeyan (5.5); S L Narayanan (6) beat Madaminov Mukhiddin (Uzb, 5); L R Srihari (5) M Pranesh (5); Sergei Lobanov (Fid, 5) Bai Jinshi (Chn, 5); Pranav Anand (5) Huang Renjie (Chn, 5); Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzb, 4.5) S Aswath (4.5); V Prraneeth (4.5) David Paravyan (Fid, 4.5): P Iniyan (4.5) Ramazan Zhalmakhanov (Kaz, 4.5) ; Raja Rithvik (4.5) Yang Zilong (Chn, 4.5); Leon Luke Mendonca (4): Bai Adelard (Kaz, 4); Surya Shekhar Ganguly (4) Wang Shixu (Chn, 4); Khuong Duy (Phi, 4) V Karthik (4); Sankalp Gupta (4) Neelash Saha (4); Bharath Subramaniyam Ivan Rozum (Fid, 4); A R Ilamparthi (4) Jan Emmanuel Garicia (Phi, 4).
Women:
Mungunzul Bat-Erdene (Mgl, 7) beat Srija Seshadri (6); Valentina Gunina (6) drew with Vantika Agrawal (6); Tokhirjonova Gulrukhbegim (Uzb, 6) beat Anastasia Bodnaruk (Fid, 5); Song Yuxin (Chn, 6) beat Frayna Janelle Mae (Phi, 5); Xeniya Balabayeva (Kaz, 6) beat P V Nandhidhaa (5); Swati Ghate (5,5) drew with Afruza Khamdamova (Uzb, 5.5): Padmini Rout (5.5) beat Arshiya Das (4.5); Rakshitta Ravi (5.5) beat Gaslina Mikheeva (Fid, 4.5).
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)
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