GM Petrosian leads after Round 8

Armenia's GM Manuel Petrosian was leading the field with 7 points followed by 6 others with 6.5 points apiece after the eighth round of the 12th Mumbai Mayor's Chess tournament being held here.

Petrosian (ELO 2573) defeated Chilean GM Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo (Elo 2476) in 31 moves on board 2 to shoot into the pole position.

In the Queen's Gambit Declined, Rodrigo level-pegged with his opponent before making an overambitious attacking move by employing his rook but it backfired.

Petrosian beat back his rival's attack in a sound manner and his pieces forged ahead. Matters became rather untenable when Rodrigo blundered and lost his rook and resigned immediately.

Meanwhile, the round also saw a marathon draw being played out on the top board between GM Ter-Sahakyan (Elo 2611) of Armenia and GM Fier Alexandr (Elo 2543) of Brazil.