Delhi GM Open 2025: Chakkravarthy, Narayanan, Sivuk among early leaders

New Delhi, Jun 8 (PTI) India's top seed and joint leader Narayanan S L continued his flawless run with victory over Arnav Agarwal in the third round of the 21st Delhi International Open Grandmasters Chess Tournament here on Sunday.

Joining Narayanan at the top of the table are Grandmasters Deepan Chakkravarthy, Vitaly Sivuk, Mihail Nikitenko, Karthik Venkataraman, Abhijeet Gupta, and International Master Arsen Davtyan.

All the leaders have registered three wins in three rounds.

IM Aronyak Ghosh also maintained his perfect score with a win over Guru Prakash, keeping pace with the front-runners in a fiercely competitive field.

The day was equally memorable for India's emerging crop of players.

Vairaj Sogerwal, riding high on his Round 1 upset over GM Karen H Grigoryan, continued to showcase his resilience against stronger opponents.

Singh Arshpreet produced another composed showing, while J Ramakrishna and Akila Kavinda also stood at two points.

Adding to the surprises, Sai Kuchibhotla delivered a gritty performance to hold GM Tornike Sanikidse to a draw, a result that exemplified the rising standard of India's grassroots chess talent.

The tournament, offering a record prize purse of Rs 1.21 crore, has attracted over 2,500 players from more than 20 countries, including 24 Grandmasters. PTI AH TAP