CHENNAI: Israel duo Grandmaster Alon Greenfeld and International Master Tamir Nabaty shared the lead with 8.0 points after the ninth round of the The India Cements Ltd 3rd Chennai Open International Grandmaster Chess tournament at SDAT Multipurose Indoor Stadium, Chennai. Ukraine GM trio viz., Alexander Areshchenko, Kravtsiv Martyn, Oleksienko Mikhailo follow the leaders at 7.5 points.
Baskaran Adhiban, Sundararajan Kidambi, M S Thej Kumar, P Shyam Nikil and R A Pradeep Kumar sustain the Indian challenge at 7.0 points along with Kuzubov, Postny, Ni Hua, Zherebukh and Zeng Chongsheng.
Further to the IM Norms achieved on Sunday, Indian duo Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh and Prantik Roy achieved their International Master Norms today. Maharashtra boy Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh defeated higher rated and experienced IM Saptarshi Roy, while Prantik Roy made the required tally with a draw against Bangladesh player and FIDE Master Minhazuddin Ahmed.