Chanda charge checks Korchnoi

Seven players trail the leader with 4.5 points each to their credit. They are Kunte, Sandipan, Korchnoi, GM Evgeny Valdimir (Russia), Double GM-norm holder IM Krishnan Sasikiran, GM Maxim Sorokin (Argentina) and GM Bogdan Lalic (Eng).

Sasikiran inched closer to his final GM norm with a draw against GM Viadimir. On the top board too, GM Kaidanov could makeno headways with black pieces as Kunte played the ultra safe king’s Fianchetto opening and took a draw in the early middle-game.

Zia-ur Rahman of Bangladesh held top seed GM Vladimir Akopian of Armenia to a draw in an English opening game.

In an otherwise dull day marred by short draws GM Maxim Sorokin gave an endgame exhibition to topple IM-norm holder Sriram Jha. GM Bogdan Lalic made short work of GM-norm aspirant Koneru Humpy when the latter left too many loopholes in in her position after playing an irregular set up with white pieces.

Swati survives scare
KOZHIKODE: Eleven-year-old Anoori Shah (Gujarat) is an unknown quantity in the National Junior Girls Chess Championship, primarily because of her age. But she did carry enough ammunition to scare top seed and IWM Swati Ghate (Elo 2297) in the 1st round here on Friday.

Swati (LIC), smarting under the Thalassery debacle last year, played with circumspection and won the game only because the little girl fluffed what looked to be a certaindraw even in the ending.

Second seed Nisha Mohota (West Bengal) needed 34 moves in Catalan Opening to overpower Rucha Karvade (Maharashtra) while ninth seed Eesha Karvade (Maharahstra) was held to a draw by Madonna Fullmoon of TN in 66 moves of French Defence.

Results (1st round): Swati Ghate (LIC) bt Anoori Shah (Guj), Rucha Karvade (Mah) lost to Nisha Mohota (W Bengal), Meenakshi (Capa) bt Lakshmi (Kar), J Megha (Kar) lost to Baisakhi Das (WB), CV Rajalakshmi (TN) bt Madhuri Patil (Mah), R Niranjini (T Nagar) lost to MR Sangeetha (TN), Pazha Sivakami (TN) bt Manjula James (Ker), K Prajeesha (Ker) lost to JE Kavitha (AICF), Eesha Karvade (Mah) drew with Madonna Fullmoon (TN), Isai Amudhu (Chrompet) drew with Sasinas Haritha (Ker), Anuradha Baniwal (Har) bt Ishwarya Shobna (TN), Navya J (Ker) drew with Lakshmi Priya (TN), M Kasthuri (TN) bt BK Srivani (AP), Soumya Ramnath (Kar) lost to Thelma Gopal (Ker), Nazia Nona (Ker) bt Shanmughapriya (Pondy), Deepa Rani (Ker) lost to Monalisa Malakar (WB),Nilavoli (Capa) bt VJ Julie (Ker).