Three players share lead

Top seeded Barua displayed his end game skill today by posting a convincing 51-move win over Shankar Roy of Railways from the black side of a Petroff Defence game.

Lanka Ravi, employing Caro Kann defence, was on the verge of losing a piece against second seeded Thipsay when he resigned in the latter8217;s favour after 31 moves.

From the black side of a Sicilian Defence game, Saravanan won two minor pieces against the rook of Dinesh Kumar Sharma. After parrying all the threats of Sharma, Saravanan wrapped up the game after 45 moves.

The Kunte-Murugan encounter was a tame draw in 12moves.

RESULTS

Shankar Roy Rlys 4 lost to D Barua Tisco 8, PM Thipsay BSB 8 bt Lanka Ravi NLC 5.5, DK Sharma UP 5.5 lost to V Saravanan PSCB 8, AP Kunte PSCB 7.5 drew K Murugan NLC 7.5, Suvarjit Saha Rlys 7 bt P Konguvel PSCB 6, K Sasikiran TN 7 bt GB Joshi 2.5, Neelotpal Das WB 6 drew with Anup Deshmukh LIC 6, RG Hegde BSB 6 drew with Vishal Sareen LIC 4.5, and DV Prasad PSCB 5 drew with V Koshy PSCB 4.