Awate, Pulekar and Balaji in State squad

MUMBAI, August 9: Vinayak Ghate held Fide Master and top seed Avinash Awate (7) to only the second draw in the tournament, in the eighth ...

MUMBAI, August 9: Vinayak Ghate held Fide Master and top seed Avinash Awate (7) to only the second draw in the tournament, in the eighth and penultimate round of the Maharashtra State Selection Chess Tournament here today.Despite the draw, Awate leads the field by half a point. Whatever be the result tomorrow, Awate has qualified for the state team that will play in the National B Championships, to be held here from August 18.

A draw will give him the title. Close behind the leader are youngsters Rashmin Pulekar and G Balaji with 6.5 points each. Pulekar and Balaji defeated Ramkrishna Kashelkar (elo 2176) and Ketan Boricha (elo 2238) respectively. Along with Awate, Pulekar and Balaji are assured a berth in the state team of six players.

Kartik Vishwanathan of Jamnabai Narsee school, Shashikant Kutwal of Pune, Hemantkumar Mandhare of Satara, Vinayak Ghate and Prasad Deshmukh of Mumbai were tied six points apiece at the third spot.

For selection they need a win in the final round tomorrow.

Top boardresults: VN Ghate (6) drew A Awate (7), G Balaji (6.5) bt K Boricha (5.5), R Pulekar (6.5) bt R Kashelkar (5.5), A Thatte (5.5) drew V Kartik (6), V Sthalekar (5) lost to P Deshmukh (6), P Mokal (5.5.) drew K Uday (5.5), S Kutwal (6) bt Y Aidasani (5), H Mandre (6) bt P Iyer (5), M Nevgi (5) lost to D Andurkar (5.5), V Rao (4.5) lost to Ravishankar (5.5), P Kiran (5.5) bt A Bhurke (4.5), VKN Solanki (5.5) bt P Gandhi (4.5), P Paranjpe (4.5) lost to D Pavan (5.5), R Khadge (4.5) lost to D Ganesh (5.5).