Sasikiran bounces back

Peng Xiomin outplayed young Pendyala Harikrishna with black pieces after launching a fluent mating attack while Xu Jun won a pawn early against National B champion Suryashekhar Ganguly in the queen8217;s gambit accepted variation to score an easy victory and lead the table with 7.5 points. Among the other Indians, GB Prakash lost to Zhang Zhong and RB Ramesh drew with Dao Than Hai.

In the women8217;s section, woman GM Hoang Thanh Trong of Vietnam lost to Maria Sargeeva of Kazhakstan butcontinued to lead the table with eight points.

National women8217;s champion Vijayalakshmi8217;s hopes of a WGM title suffered a setback when she lost to Memedova of Uzbekistan. Vijayalakshmi played a complicated game in a desperate bid for victory but lost her queen and the game to her rival8217;s strong counter-attack.

Important results
Men: P Harikrishna 5.5 pts lost to Peng Xiomin 7.5, Xu Jun 7.5 bt SS Ganguly 5.5, RB Ramesh 5.5 drew with Dao Than Hai 7, Zhang Zhong 7 bt GB Prakash 5, K Sasikiran 6.5 bt Reefat Bin Sattar 5.
Women: Hoang Thanh 8 lost to Maria Sargeeva 6.5, Bhagyashree 5.5 lost to Wang Pin 6.5, Vijayalakshmi 6 lost to Memedova 6.5, K Humpy 4.5 lost to Tatiana Sargeeva 5.5.