New Delhi: Overnight sole leader Grandmaster Harsha Bharathakoti held top seed Praggnanandhaa R in the sixth round to maintain his sole lead with five points in the ongoing Asian Continental Chess Championship here on Monday.
Playing white side of Catalan opening, Harsha exchanged the pieces with his top seed at regular intervals to sign the peace treaty after 33 moves. A pack of eleven players including Prgganandhaa now trailing behind the leader with a drift of half point.
In other important battles in the sixth round, Grandmaster Leon Luke Mendonca drew with Sethuraman S P while Karthikeyan Murali split the point with compatriot Grandmaster B Adhiban. Second seed Narayanan S L moved closer with a win over Sandipan Chanda while Aravindh Chithambaram got the better of Ayush Sharma.
In the women’s section, Nandhidhaa P V grabbed the sole lead after beating fellow team mate Priyanka Nutakki in the sixth round. Playing with dark pieces in the Alapin Variation of Sicilian Defense, Nandhidhaa capitalized the positional mistake committed by her opponent in the middle game to garner full point from the outing to take her point tally to five and half points. She now enjoys a solid one point lead over nearest contenders Padmini Rout and Priyanka Nutakki with three rounds remaining.
After a sedate start, 2018 edition winner third seed Padmini Rout found her rhythm back to beat sixth seed Nilufur Yakubbaeva of Uzbekistan to follow the leader with four and half points. In the crucial seventh round encounter on Tuesday, Padmini takes on Nandhidhaa while Priyanka paired against Yakubbaeva.
Important Results Round-6 (Indians otherwise stated) :- GM Harsha Bharathakoti (5) drew with Praggnanandhaa R (4.5); GM Leon Luke Mendonca (4.5) drew with GM Sethuraman S P (4.5); GM Karthikeyan Murali (4.5) drew with GM Adhiban B (4.5); GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov of Uzbekistan (4.5) drew with GM Maksat Atabayev of Turkmenistan (4.5); GM Sandipan Chanda (3.5) lost to GM Narayanan S L (4.5); FM Ayush Sharma (3.5) lost to Aravindh Chithambaram (3.5); IM Saparmyrat Atabayev of Turkmenistan (4.5) beat GM Rinat Jumabayev of Kazakhstan (3.5); IM Pranav V (4) drew with IM Aditya Mittal (4); GM Shyam Sundar M (4) drew with IM Urazayev Arystanbek of Kazakhstan (4); IM Koustav Chatterjee (4.5) beat IM Viani Antonio Dcunha (3.5); GM Abhimanyu Puranik (4) beat IM Ajay Karthikeyan (3); GM Sankalp Gupta (3.5) drew with IM Nigmatov Ortik (3.5); GM Deep Sengupta (3) lost to IM Sammed Jaykumar Shete (4); IM Shyaamnikhil P (3.5) drew with IM Anuj Shrivatri (3.5); GM Karthik Venkataraman (4) beat IM Amartuvshin Ganzorig of Mongolia (3).
Women’s Round-6 :- WGM Priyanka Nutakki (4.5) lost to WGM Nandhidhaa P V (5.5); IM Padmini Rout (4.5) beat WGM Nilufar Yakubbaeva of Uzbekistan (4); WGM Divya Deshmukh (4) drew with IM Soumya Swaminathan (4); WGM Vo Thi Kim Phung of Vietnam (4) drew with WGM Mary Ann Gomes (4); WGM Vantika Agrawal (4) beat Cholleti Sahajasri (3.5); WIM Saina Salonika (3.5) drew with IM Tania Sachdev (3.5); WGM Enkhtuul ALtan-Ulzii of Mongolia (3) lost to WGM Thi Mai Hung Nguyen of Vietnam (4); WIM Amina Kairbekova of Kazakhstan (3.5) drew with WFM Srishti Pandey (3.5); IM Nisha Mohota (4) beat WIM Xeniya Balabayeva of Kazakhstan (3); WIM Rakshitta Ravi (4) beat WGM Varshini V (3).
