MUMBAI, MAY 28: Grandmaster Abhijit Kunte returned to winning ways in style with a convincing win over International Master Lanka Ravi in the 11th round of the Reliance National A Chess Championship being played at the Andheri Sports Complex, here on Sunday.The victory saw Kunte of Petroleum Sports Control Board (PSCB) continue as the sole leader with 8.5 points. Kunte now has a one point lead over top seed Grandmaster Dibyendu Barua of TISCO, who received a setback, being held to a draw by IM K Murugan.The other Grandmasters in fray, defending champion Krishnan Sasikiran (PSCB) and Pravin Thipsay (PSCB) were also held to draws by IM V Sarvanan and 14-year-old IM P Harikrishna of Wipro respectively.Tamil Nadu's 17-year-old IM Sundararjan Kidambi increased his tally scoring a thumping win over Sriram Jha of LIC while veteran Ravi Hegde recorded his first win defeating IM Sandipan Chanda of Goodricke National Chess Academy (GNCA).GM Kunte who was running fever on Saturday, showed no signs of discomfort on Sunday as he used the Kings Indian attack against Lanka Ravi's Caro-Kann defence to great effect. Kunte deployed his knights putting pressure on the centre that kept Lanka Ravi on a tight leash in the middle-game. Kunte attacked from the kingside moving the `f' pawn after doubling rooks in the `f' file. Lanka Ravi's pieces were ill-placed to meet the onslaught and was forced to resign on the 35th move.GM Barua's plans were upset by a defiant IM Murugan, who came up with a dubious plan using the Sicilian Scheveningen. Barua was sitting easy till the middle-game but misread the slight advantage he had going in for a kill.Well aware of the offensive, Murugan brought out his defensive skills to achieve equality. Finding it hard to get a breakthrough, Barua proposed for a draw on the 23rd move and Murugan accepted. Playing with black pieces IM Saravanan held GM Sasikiran to a draw in a King's Indian game.Saravanan's position was weak after the opening moves and Sasikiran went for a queenside initiative. Saravanan, however, attacked on the kingside. Sasikiran decided to deprive his opponent any counter play sacrificing a pawn to reach the end-game with huge positional advantage. Saravanan was also pushed into time trouble but he successfully defended salvaging a draw after 44 moves.Young IM P Harikrishna once again revealed the class he has as the Andhra Pradesh boy foiled Thipsay's hopes with a draw. Thipsay himself was to be blamed as he squandered all advantage by getting trapped in time trouble and was even in danger of losing the game. Towards the end, Harikrishna pressed for a win but Thipsay managed to wriggle out after a long-drawn battle of 66 moves.IM Ravi Hegde registered his first win employing the Maroczy bind formation against the Accelerated Dragon mthod of Sandipan Chanda. Hegde playing black, developed his queen to a5 as Chanda tried derive tactical advantage. Hegde had anticipated the move and was able to repulse every threat. After exchange of material, Hegde had two pieces for a rook in the end-game and he displayed good technique to emerge winner.IM Suryashekhar Ganguly (GNCA) missed out on a golden opportunity to extend his winning streak against his academy mate Neelotpal Das who escaped with a draw.Ganguly was doing well before he fumbled in the end-game letting his opponent off the hook.Results (Round XI): Atanu Lahiri (3) drew Vishal Sareen (5), DV Prasad (5.5) drew TS Ravi (6), Dibyendu Barua (7.5) drew K Murugan (5), Abhijit Kunte (8.5) bt Lanka Ravi (4), Sandipan Chanda (4.5) lost to Ravi Hegde (4.5), SS Ganguly (5.5) drew Neelotpal Das (4), P Harikrishna (5.5) drew Pravin Thipsay (5.5), K Sasikiran (7) drew V Sarvanan (4.5), S Kidambi (4.5) bt Sriram Jha (4), GB Prakash (5) bye.Game of the DayS Kidambi: White Sriram Jha: Black1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3 a6 9. e4 c5 10. e5 cxd4 11. Nxb5 axb5 12. exf6 gxf6 13. O-O Qb6 14. Qe2 Ba6 15. Rd1 Rd8 16. b4 Bxb4 17. Rb1 Bc5 18. Bxb5 Bxb5 19. Rxb5 Qa7 20. Bb2 Qxa2 21. Nxd4 Bxd4 22. Rxd4 O-O 23. h4 Ne5 24. Rg4+ Ng6 25. h5 e5 26. hxg6 hxg6 27. Rxe5 fxe5 28. Qxe5 Qb1+ 29. Kh2 f6 30. Qe6+ Rf7 31. Bxf6 Kf8 32. Rh4 Jha resigns.
