Continuing with his unbeaten run, Georgy rated 2562 added 6.5 points in his kitty after winning the seventh round and playing draw in the eighth round on Monday. Georgy beat Uzbek GM Saidali Iuldachhev rated 2496 and shared point to Indian GM Sriram Jha rated 2455 in the eighth round.[break]
Georgy has established a point lead over Slovenian GM Georg Mohr, Indian GM Jha, Uzbek GM Marat Dzhumaev and Iuldachhev and Indian International Master (IM) Himanshu Sharma and Atanu Lahiri who jointly shared the second position with 5.5 points each. If Georgy wins or plays a draw on the last round match scheduled on Tuesday, he will win the title by point difference; and even if he loses it, he will still win it on the basis of progressive point.
GM Mohr shared points to Indian GM Jha and Uzbek GM Dzhumaev in both the rounds respectively. Similarly, Jha defeated Bangladeshi FIDE Master Abu Sufian Shakil. Dzhumaev saw off Indian IM MR Venkatesh. Likewise, Iuldachhev beat Prantik Roy of India in the eighth round, while Himanshu Sharma of India shared points to IM Venkatesh of his own country.
With five points apiece, Venkatesh, Praveen Kumar, Saurav Khherdekar and Roy of India, and Abu Sufian Shakil and Ahmed Minhazuddin of Bangladesh jointly scored the third position.
Among the Nepali players, national champion Badrilal Nepali and Keshav Shrestha have accumulated the highest 4.5 points apiece. Nepali beat Prachanda Malakar and Niranjan Prajapati in the seventh and eighth rounds. Likewise, Shrestha shared points to Prajapati in the seventh and defeated Janardan Shrestha in the eighth round.
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