Iranian GM Maghsoodloo takes sole lead in Mumbai chess tourney

Mumbai, Jan 6 (PTI) Iranian Grandmaster Parham Maghsoodloo took sole lead on the seventh day of the IIFL Wealth 3rd Mumbai International Chess Tournament here by notching a convincing victory over earlier leader Indian Grandmaster Deepan Chakkravarthy.

The game was dominated by Parham from the beginning, and he went on to clinch the game on move 45 when Deepan threw in the towel. With only two more rounds to go, Parham is currently on 6.5/7, followed by as many as five players, including top-seed Abhijeet Gupta, on 6/7, a media release issued here said.

The junior tournament, on the other hand, is yet to produce a sole leader. On the first board, top seed Gukesh D was held to a draw by Aaryan Varshney.

Nikhil Magizhnan and defending champion Pranav V won their respective games against Srihari L R and Jubin Jimmy to take joint-lead after round seven.

A total of 600 players from 25 countries are participating across the two sections of this tournament which has a cumulative prize fund of Rs 20 lakh