Ramesh stuns Barua

Barua played the French defence with black pieces and was caught unaware in an off-beat variation of Tarrasch variation, Ramesh sacrificed a pawn to initiate a Kingside attack and succeeded in entering an opposite Coloni Bishop middlegame. Soon after a picturesque queen sacrifice left Barua startled and he had to play two-pawns-down endgame where Ramesh made no mistake to add to his kitty.

Second seed GM Alexander Baburin of Ireland played a thematic game to oust IM norm holder Dinesh Sharma who employed the Semislav defence black pieces.

Former national champion IM P Konguveldefeated Rahul Shetty in an accelerated Sicilian Dragon where the former was white. Shetty retained a minuscule advantage for major part of the middlegame but wrongly invaded the queenside with his rook that left his King caught in a corner. A well manoeuvred knight helped Konguvel8217;s queen in launching a decisive attack. Konguvel thus joined the leader8217;s pack on two points.

Other important results: Rahul Shetty 1 lost to P Konguvel 2; M Waqar 1.5 drew with Nassir Wajih 1.5; PM Thipsay 1.5 bt K Visweshwaran 1; Koneru Humpy 2 bt Pallavi Shah 1; K Gopalakrishan 1 lost to Bhagyashree Thipay 2; DV Prasad 1.5 bt CS Gokhale 0.5; Sriram Jha 1.5 bt A Webster 0.5.