Iranian Grandmaster Maghami Ehsan Ghaem has defeated Marat Dzhumaev of Uzbekistan in the ninth round to take lead in the 8th Parsvnath International Open chess tournament at the Modern School hall in New Delhi on Wednesday.

The third seeded Maghami regained the sole lead with eight points after victory over Dzhumaev in 41 moves while second seed Slovenian GM Lenic Luka, Kazakh GM Pavel Kotsur and Russian International Master Nikolay Tolstikh are placed at second spot with seven and half points.

Dzhumaev was once looking in a good position in the match with a chance to exchange one of his minor pieces for a rook of Maghami but Maghami held her nerves and traded queens on the
41st move to race away with the match.

Meanwhile, Young International Master Deep Sengupta has defeated fourth seeded Russian GM Maxim Turov in 56 moves to jump to the second place while Tolstikh played a draw with Bangladesh GM Ziaur Rahman.

Lenic Lucka ousted GM-norm aspirant Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury in 80 moves while GM Pavel Kotsur of Kazakhistan thrashed young M. R. Lalith Babu in 76 moves.