Vilesh Bhat sole leader

MUMBAI, May 1: Mumbai's Vilesh Bhat emerged the sole leader at the end of the penultimate round of the All India Open Chess Tournament spons...

MUMBAI, May 1: Mumbai8217;s Vilesh Bhat emerged the sole leader at the end of the penultimate round of the All India Open Chess Tournament sponsored by employees of 1 2 Technologies and organised by the All India Chess federation for the Blind at the Andheri Sports Complex.

Bhat leads the field with seven points from seven rounds ahead of Sanjay Kaarandikar, also from Mumbai with 6.5 points. Charudatta Jadhav, Shirish Patil of Mumbai, Sunil Sasane of Pune, K Satyasheel of kerala, Seethavasan of Tamil Nadu and Ingar Ibrahim of Gujarat are in joint third position with six points each.

The giant killing spree of Sunil sasane was brought to a stop by Bhat on the top board. In a game of Sicilian defence, Bhat with black pieces played faultlessly. In the end game, Bhat played brilliantly to win the game and assume the position of sole leader.

On the second board, Madan Bagaitkar played an excellent game against overnight joint leader Sanjay Karandikar. In the end game Madan had a rook and a bishop to Sanjay8217;srook and pawn. The game was a theoretical draw as Madan had no pawns to press home for a win. At the end of a very prolonged game, the arbiter declared the game as draw. Sanjay would have been the joint leader with Vilesh Baht had he managed to win.

RESULTS Seventh Round

Sunil Sasane Pune, 6 lost to Vilesh Bhat Mumbai, 7; Madan Bagitkar Mumbai, 5.5 drew with Sanjay Karandikar Mumbai, 6.5; Charudatta Jadhav Mumbai, 6 bt Jagdish Sasatiya Gujarat, 5; Dasrath Dole Mumbai, 5 lost to Shirish Patil Mumbai, 6; Joseph D8217;Mello Mumbai, 5.5 drew with S Pandiyarajan TN, 5.5; K Satyasheel Kerala, 6 bt Rajesh Rajput Gujarat, 5; S Seethavasan TN, 6 bt Kartik Damle Mumbai, 5; Dwarkadas Patel 4.5 lost to Ingar Ibrahim Gujarat, 6; Swapnil Shah Mumbai, 5.5 bt Vasant Patil Mumbai, 4.5; Dinesh Kumar Haryana, 5.5 bt Vijay Gawli Mumbai, 4.5