Grandmaster Marat Dhzumaev of Uzbekistan turned the title race into a four-cornered affair on Thursday when he beat top seed GM Dmitry Svetushkin of Moldova in the tenth and penultimate round of the Parsvnath International chess tournament.
Dhzumaev, with eight points, shares the lead with GM Pendyala Harikrishna, Alexander Fominyh of Russia and GM-norm holder R B Ramesh.
But Ramesh, who ensured that all the formalities required to earn his third and final GM norm were completed by playing a draw against Scotland's GM Jonathan Rowson, is the best placed of the quartet. He needs to only match the result of his three fellow-leaders to win the championship on a better progressive score.
Meanwhile, Delhi Chess Association secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan told reporters they applied to the All India Chess Federation to certify the tournament as a norm tournament so that the GM norm of Ramesh and IM norms of a few other players can be confirmed.
"We have informed the AICF that we will be playing the Rs 100,000-odd fee for converting the tournament as a norm tournament and the ball is now in their court," he said.
The 27-year-old Ramesh, who got his IM title way back in 1996, was visibly elated at completing the formalities and said he felt relieved after achieving the mark.
"I became an IM in 1996. Since there were not many big tournaments in India it was difficult to get the GM norms here. I am happy that I completed it now," he said.
The Indian Oil player got his first GM norm in the Biel Open in Switzerland in 2001 and the second in the British Championship last year.
On the top board, overnight leaders Fominyh and Harikrishna opted to play safe and agreed for a mutual draw after 21 moves.
While draws were the order of the day for most players, Dhzumaev had a different plan. The Uzbek GM, who is known for his aggressive style, opted for a Sicillian close opening with white pieces and displayed a great understanding of the tactical attack in the middle game to upset the Moldavian Svetushkin in 48 moves.
With just a round remaining, 12 players, including GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly, Rowson, IM Lanka Ravi, are in the second spot with 7.5 points.
Important tenth round results (All Indians if not mentioned otherwise): A Fominyh (RUS) 8.0 drew P Harikrishna 8.0, J Rowson (SCO) 7.5 drew R B Ramesh 8.0, Marat Dzhumaev (UZB) 8.0 beat Dmitry Svetushkin (MDA) 7.0, Tahir Vakhidov (UZB) 7.5 drew Lanka Ravi (7.5), Neelotpal Das 7.5 drew S Iuldachev (UZB) 7.5, Niaz Murshed (BAN) 7.5 drew S Ovsejevitsch (UKR) 7.5, S S Ganguly 7.5 beat Deep Sengupta 7.0, Sriram Jha 7.5 beat Akshay Raj Kore 6.5, Poobesh Anand 7.5 beat Aarthie Ramaswamy 6.5, Atanu Lahiri 7.5 beat Varugeese Koshy 6.5, Syed Shazuli 6.5 lost to R Balasubramanyam 7.5.