K. Sasikiran shares a light moment with his wife at Gorky Sadan on Tuesday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta: The Calcutta Open Grandmasters Chess tournament at Alekhine Chess Club is set for an absorbing finish on Wednesday morning. Top seed Krishnan Sasikiran and Viktor Laznicka of Czech Republic jointly share the lead with 7.5 points each after the penultimate round.

Laznicka, who meets world junior champion Adly Ahmed in the final round, however, is better placed in the tie break and a win would seal the title for him. Laznicka would be looking to settle scores against Adly Ahmed as he had lost to him in the world junior meet in October in Armenia.

Laznicka played yet another exciting game to overwhelm Koneru Humpy in a Catalan opening on Tuesday. Laznicka obtained a positional advantage from the opening and then went to win two pawns after which Humpy called it quits.

Sasikiran, who trampled GM Sandipan Chanda, is likely to go all out for a win against S. Arun Prasad. Playing with the black pieces, Sasikiran made most of the chances offered by Sandipan in a Sicilian defence and won the game by first giving up his rook for bishop and then making good use of his bishops against Sandipan’s weakened kingside.

The day, however, belonged to S. Arun Prasad, who completed his third and final GM norm by getting the better of GM Vladimir Dobrov of Russia. Arun will now have to increase his rating to 2500 to get the GM title.

Arun effectively utilised his better placed rook and bishop against Dobrov’s rook and knight in the end-game. With both players in mutual time scramble, Dobrov fumbled and lost.

Iranian GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami dashed Saptarshi Roy’s hopes as the latter could only draw against his illustrious opponent. Saptarshi, who required a win today for his maiden GM norm, attained an enviable position from the opening but had to settle for a draw as his king was out in the open.

Rolando Nolte of Philippines achieved his maiden GM norm by outwitting GM Abdulla Al-Rakib of Bangladesh in a Ruy Lopez opening. Argyadeep Das achieved his final IM norm by drawing against Enamul Hossain of Bangladesh. Arghyadip, who already has a rating of 2400, will be awarded the title in the next Fide congress. He also has a 9-game GM norm to his credit.

Other who achieved the IM norms were Swapnil Dhopade, M.S. Thejkumar and Oliver Barbosa of Philippines. Nimmy George achieved her second WIM norm.

Round IX RESULTS

Sandipan Chanda (6.5) lost to Krishnan Sasikiran (7.5); Viktor Laznicka (7.5) bt Koneru Humpy (6.5); Adly Ahmed (6.5) drew with Shukhrat Safin (6.5); S. Arun Prasad (7) bt Vladimir Dobrov (6); Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (6) drew with Saptarshi Roy (6); Nguyen Anh Dung (6) drew with R.B. Ramesh (6); Rolando Nolte (6.5) bt Abdulla Al-Rakib (5.5); Ziaur Rahman (6.5) bt P. Konguvel (5.5); Tejas Bakre (6.5) bt Dibyendu Barua (5.5); Smbat Lputian (5) drew with Oliver Barbosa (5.5); Niaz Murshed (5) lost to Alberto David (6); Arghyadip Das (5.5) drew with Enamul Hossain (5.5); Himanshu Sharma (5) lost to Ashwin Jayram (6); B.T. Murali Krishnan (5.5) drew with Sriram Jha (5.5); G.B. Prakash (6) bt M.R. Venkatesh (5); Sundararajan Kidambi (6) bt Vinay Kumar Matta(5); Neelotpal Das (5.5) bt Kruttika Nadig (4.5); V. Saravanan (4.5) lost to R.R. Laxman (5.5); S. Satyapragyan (4.5) lost to N. Sudhakar Babu (4.5); Watu Kobese (5) drew with Kenny Solomon (5).