Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi scored his sixth victory on the trot, disposing of Oliver Barbosa of Philippines to retain his half-point lead with just one round to go in the Asian individual chess championship, in Ho Chi Minh on Saturday.
National women's champion Mary Ann Gomes raised vision of a rare Indian double when she defeated overnight leader Irine Sukandar Kharisma of Indonesia to jump to the sole lead in the women's championship, being organised simultaneously.
If both Negi and Mary Ann hold their nerves in the final round on Sunday, it will be a rare Indian double.
Negi was outstanding in his effort. In the seventh round he made mince meat of higher-ranked Liren Ding of China and then in the eighth round Barbosa had no answers.
The victory took Negi to a commendable seven points out of a possible eight and a draw should be enough for him to win his maiden Asian title.
Mary Ann Gomes also had a perfect seventh round when she beat top seed Zhao Xue of China and then in eighth, in a must win situation, the Kolkata-based put it across Irine who had been leading the championship since day one.
Mary Ann, on 6.5 points, is a half point clear of Irine and she will have to put up her best in the final round as she takes on Tan Zhongyi of China, one of the feared opponents here. Negi task is much easier as he takes on Salem Saleh of UAE.
There are also hopes of one more medal for Indian as Eesha Karavade and Padmini Rout have both 5.5 points for the shared third spot. The stage is set up for a nail biting finish in this section.
The other Indians do not have much chance in the final round. National champion Abhijeet Gupta suffered his third defeat here which also means loss of important rating points.
Interestingly, Gupta had been winning in all the three games that he lost here. Saturday was no exception when he threw away a win against Ma Qun of China.
Important and Indian results round 8 open (Indians unless stated): Parimarjan Negi (7) beat Oliver Barbosa (Phi, 5.5); Yu Yangyi (6.5) beat Salem A R Saleh (Uae, 5.5); Ni Hua (Chn, 5.5) beat Le Quang Liem (Vie, 5); Ding Liren (Chn, 5.5) beat Mark Paragua (4.5); Liu Qingnan (Chn, 5) drew with Vidit Gujrathi (5); Abhijeet Gupta (3.5) lost to Ma Qun (Chn, 4.5); M R Venkatesh (4.5) beat Tu Hoang Thong (Vie, 3.5); G N Gopal (4.5) beat Nguyen Huynh Minh Huy (Vie, 3.5); Dao Thien Hai (Vie, 4.5) beat Deepan Chakkravarthy (3.5); Lou Yiping (Chn, 3) lost to B Adhiban (4); N Srinath (3) lost to Ju Wenjun (Chn, 4); S P Sethuraman (3.5) beat Hamdani Rudin (Ina, 2.5).
Women: Mary Ann Gomes (6.5) beat Irine Sukandar Kharisma (Ina, 6); Ding Yixin (Chn, 5.5) drew with Tan Zhongyi (Chn, 5.5); Wang Jue (Chn, 5.5) drew with Eesha Karavade (5.5); Guliskhan Nakhbayeva (Kaz, 4.5) lost to Zhao Xue (Chn, 5.5); Nguyen Thi Thanh An (Vie, 4.5) lost to Padmini Rout (5.5); Swathi Ghate (4.5) lost to Le Thanh Tu (Vie, 5.5); Nisha Mohota (4.5) drew with Zhai Mo (Chn, 4.5); Tania Sachdev (4.5) beat Vo Thi Kim Phung (Vie, 3.5); Medina Warda Aulia (Ina, 4) beat Kiran Manisha Mohanty (2.5); B Pratyusha (2.5) had a bye.
Round 7 open: Negi beat Ding Liren (Chn); So Wesley (Phi) drew with Gupta; Gujrathi beat Nguyen Van Huy (Vie); Gao Rui (Chn) drew with Venkatesh; Chakkravarthy (3.5) drew with Gopal; Adhiban lost to Nezad Husein Aziz (Qat); Wei Yi (Chn) beat Sethuraman; Ton That Nhu Tung (Vie) drew with Srinath.
Women: Mary Ann beat Zhao Xue (Chn); Eesha beat Munguntuul (Mgl); Nisha lost to Wang Jue (Chn); Le Thanh Tu (Vie) beat Tania; Hoang Thi Bao Tram (Vie) lost to Swathi; Padmini beat Nguyen Quynh Anh (Vie); B Pratyusha lost to Hoang Thi Nhu Y (Vie); Kiran lost to Ni Shiqun (Chn).