Mumbai, June 24 -- The Aurionpro International Grandmaster Chess Tournament witnessed a shift in momentum in the seventh round as veteran Grandmaster Aleksej Aleksandrov of Belarus surged to the top of the leaderboard with an emphatic victory at the World Trade Centre, here in Mumbai.

In the junior section, candidate Master Madhesh Kumar from Pondicherry emerged as the sole leader by defeating Ramanu Mishra to move to 6.5 out of 7. His consistent performance makes him the top contender for the title, especially as tournament favourite and top seed FM Aansh Nerurkar was held to a draw by Shaunak Badole on board.

In the Grandmaster section, the top-board clash between Armenian compatriots GM Manuel Petrosyan and IM Arsen Davtyan ended in ...