Bibisara Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan placed second and Zhu Jiner of China finished in third.

The trio had been level entering the final round of matches of a tournament that had started controversially with several top players complaining about their treatment and conditions.

It led to a brief postponement after Kazakhstan player Zhansaya Abdumalik refused to participate and left the event.

Zhu, playing as black, had been the first to finish, after agreeing draw with Georgia’s Nino Batsiashvili nearly three hours at the board.

The draw meant she collected her third Grand Master norm of the season following those in Astana and Munich and now holds the status of "Grandmaster".

A few minutes later, Goryachkina, competing as a FIDE neutral due to sanctions imposed on Russian players following their country's invasion of Ukraine last year, drew as white against India’s world number two Humpy Koneru.

Quarter-of-a- hour later Assaubayeva drew with Kateryna Lagno, another Russian competing as a neutral.

It meant all three finished on six points after 11 contests, but Goryachkina was given the verdict by virtue of her "better tiebreaks," calculated on the number of victories and the number of wins playing as black.

Tournament regulations stipulated that prize money was to be equally divided so all three players received €12,333 (£10,792/$13,446).

Each player also received 133 Women's Grand Prix points from the tournament.

With one competition left to play, Zhu now leads the overall standings with 308 points from Goryachkina on 263.

Russian-born former world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk, now representing Switzerland, is third on 250 points, but did not play in India's capital.

Close behind her is Lagno on 245.

Zhu is unlikely to retain top position as she is not scheduled to take part in the final event due  to take place in Cyprus from May 15 to May 28.