Grandmaster Neelotpal Das drew with lower rated Mohammed Tanuveer Gillani of Pakistan in the third round of the Asian Zone 3.2 Chess Championship here on Monday. In the womens section,national champion Kruttika Nadig also suffered an upset draw against young Sultana Sharmin Shrin of Bangladesh in the second round. Meanwhile,International Master Rathanakaran beat young Ahmed Ashraf of Maldives while another Indian IM in the fray,Sriram Jha,and top seed from Bangladesh GM Ziaur Rahman overcame Kesav Malla of Bhutan and Hapuarachchi HLM of Sri Lanka respectively without much struggle. Last minute entrant into the championship Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay beat Amir Karim of Pakistan. In another third round match,Bangladeshi GM Reefat Bin-Sattar continued to struggle for form,going down to second seed GM Deepan Chakkravarthy for his third straight loss. In the womens section,Women Grandmasters Nisha Mohota and Swathi Ghate split points after 48 moves while local hope and top seed Tania Sachdev beat Monalisa Khamboo of Nepal in just 29 moves. Results,3rd round (Indians otherwise stated): Men: IM Rathnakaran K (2.5) beat Ahmed Ashraf of Maldives (0); Malla Kesav (Bhu) (0) lost to IM Sriram Jha (2.5); GM Praveen Thipsay (3) beat Amir Karim (Pak) (1); GM Neelotpal Das (2.5) drew with Gillani Gillani MD (Pak) (1.5); GM Deepan Chakkravarthy (2.5) beat GM Reefat Bin-Sattar (Ban) (0); GM Ziaur Rahman (Ban) (1.5) beat Hapuarachchi HLM (SL) (0); Surbir Lama (Nep) bye. Women,2nd round : Khamboo Monalisa (Nep) (0) lost to IM Tania Sachdev (2); WGM Kruttika Nadig (1.5) drew with Sultana Sharmin Shirin (Ban) (1.5); WGM Nisha Mohota (.5) drew with WGM Swathi Ghate (.5); Sachini Ranasinghe (SL) bye.
