Indian Grandmaster Nihal Sarin registered his third win in a row at the Asian Individual Chess Championship 2025, but still finds himself a full point behind the tournament leader, Bardiya Daneshvar of Iran, after the conclusion of the penultimate round on Wednesday.
Facing fellow Indian GM S P Sethuraman in Round 8, Sarin showcased fine positional play to seal the win and move to six points. However, Daneshvar maintained his grip on the leaderboard with a clinical victory over Abhimanyu Puranik, taking his tally to seven out of a possible eight points.
With only one round remaining and a likely head-to-head clash between the two front-runners looming, the Iranian remains the favourite to secure the title and the gold medal.
In the women’s section, Mongolia’s Mungunzul Bat-Erdene took a major step towards the championship crown after defeating India’s Srija Seshadri, who had been sharing the top spot. Bat-Erdene now leads with seven points, holding a comfortable one-point advantage over her closest challengers.
Other Indian results saw G B Harshavardhan and Murali Karthikeyan play out a draw, while S L Narayanan continued his steady run by defeating Mukhiddin Madaminov of Uzbekistan.
Vantika Agrawal drew with top-seeded Valentina Gunina in the women’s event, while Padmini Rout and Rakshitta Ravi notched up wins to stay in contention.