Bhandarkar, Balaji in the lead

PUNE, FEBRUARY 12: Top seed Dinesh Bhandarkar of LIC and G Balaji of Andhra Education Society's College share the lead with five points afte...

PUNE, FEBRUARY 12: Top seed Dinesh Bhandarkar of LIC and G Balaji of Andhra Education Society’s College share the lead with five points after five rounds in the Bombay Division Selection Chess Tournament being played at the Zandu Pharmaceutical Canteen, Sayani Road here.

On the top board, Bhandarkar replied with the Advance variation to Ganesh Bhilare’s French Defence. He pushed his bishop to the d3 square and sacrificed two pawns but Bhilare soon after, returned one of it to be in a better position. But Bhilare misplaced his queen, and lost it for a rook and a bishop and Bhandarkar forced his way to win.

RESULTS

Fifth round: Dinesh Bhandarkar (5) bt Ganesh Bhilare (4); G Balaji (5) bt Vivek Thoopal (4); Rohit Rana (3.5) lost to Ketan Boricha (4.5); Paresh Gandhi (4.5) bt Kiran Pitale (3.5); Ramesh Khadye (4.5) bt N Shankar (3.5); S Khollam (3) lost to Abhijit Bhurke (4); Subhash Honmurgi (4) bt Ajit Kelsekar (3); AR Kuvalekar (3) lost to M Srinath (4); Subhash Kale (3) lost to AN Iyer (4); AnilArora (3) lost to Girish Chandanani (4); Venkatesh Rao (4) bt Girish Pillai (3); Ravindra Patil (4) bt Vithal Madhav (3); Vishwas Gandre (4) bt Atal Ahirwar (3); Nikhil Bhat (3.5) bt Pradeep Sawant (2.5); PS Dabholkar (2.5) lost to N Robinson (3.5); Anil Bahulayan (3.5) bt Hoshant Tafti (2.5).