IM Babu regains sole lead

Atanu Lahiri (6.5) employed ultra sharp king’s Indian defence against Babu’s Samisch system. Atanu sacrificed a pawn to tie down the white army. Babu tried his best to extricate his pieces out of bind, but he could not succeed. Finally he returned the extra pawn and agreed for a draw after 29 moves.

Commonwealth runners-up Chandrashekhar Gokhale (6) employed razor sharp Archangel variation of Spanish opening against Sriram Jha (6.5) of LIC but could not break through on the queen’s wing and peace was signed after 18 moves.

Ravi Hegde (6.5) of Union Bank, Bangalore took advantage of Vivek Sthalekar’s (5.5) blunder in the Slav defence and inflicted a check- mate in 25 moves. Roktim Bandopadhyay (6.5) of WB came back into reckoning by defeating S R Kidambi (5.5) of Tamil Nadu in Nimzo Indian defence.

Bangladesh’s Enamul Hussain (6.5) had to toil hard for six hours to down unseeded V K Venkat (5.5) of TN in Sicilian defence.

RESULTS (VIII Round)
N S Babu (7; IB) drew Atanu Lahiri (6.5; LIC); Sriram Jha (6.5; LIC) drew C S Gokhale (6; IA); Ravi Hegde (6.5; UBI) b V Sthalekar (5.5; RBI); S C Sahu (6; UBI) drew P Mitrakanth (6; NLC); V Koshy (6; ONGC) drew Nassin Wajih (6; Raj); S R Kidambi (5.5; TN) lost to R Bandopadhyay (6.5; WB); S K Rathod (6.5; MP) b R K Mishra (5.5; MP); L Imocha (5; Man) lost to G B Prakash (6; IB); J K Choudhary (6; Bih) b T S Ravi (5; IOC); N Sanjay (5.5; Kar) drew P Mokal (5.5; Mah); J Gokhale (5.5; BPCL) drew Amjad Ali (5.5; B’desh); V S Negi (5.5; IA) draw S Chanda (5.5; WB); S Lahiri (5.5; WB) drew S Nasir Ali (5.5; UP); N Neelakantan (5; CBI) lost to T V Kartikeyan (6; TN); S K Sinha (6; Bih) b D Ravishankar (5; Mah); PDS Girinath (5.5; Rlys) b P Tulpule (5; Mah); V Shukla (5.5; UP) b D Singh (4.5; UP); A Vaidya (5.5; Mah b V Hiremath (4.5; Mah); R Muralidharan (4.5; TN) lost to A Karnataki (5.5; Mah) B Ramana Babu (5.5; AP) lost to R V Gokhale (4.5; UBI).