Pendyala Harikrishna overpowered top seed Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu in the sixth round of the Category-16 Super Grandmaster tournament to move within striking distance of the title in Pune on Thursday.
On a day of great drama, former World junior champion Emil Sutovsky of Israel and Krishnan Sasikiran tasted defeat against Zurab Azmaiparashvili of Georgia and veteran Alexander Beliavsky respectively.
Meanwhile, Sandipan Chanda left Rustam Kasimdzhanov panting as the latter failed to convert a seemingly simple rook endgame and eventually drew.
The other game of the day was also drawn with tail-enders Abhijit Kunte and Surya Shekhar Ganguly signing peace.
Wth just three rounds to go, pony-tailed Nisipeanu and Kazimdzhanov led with four points with Harikrishna and Sandipan close on their heels on 3.5.
Another half a point adrift are Beliavsky, Sutovsky and Azmaiparashvili while Sasikiran remained on 2.5.
On the drop zone were Surya Shekhar Ganguly on 2 points and Kunte half point behind him.
Back in 2002, Harikrishna had beaten Alexander Morozevich of Russia, who was already too big a name in the game then and was touted as someone who was destined to see better years in chess.
