Deepan, Vijayalakshmi in hunt for major prizes

Indian duo Deepan Chakkravarthy and Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman (5.5) kept themselves in hunt for major prizes, while Ukraine Grandmaster Solodovnichenko Yuri (6.0) shared the lead with three other GMs after the 7th round of Chennai Open International Grandmaster Chess here today.
Yuri beat giant killer Kumar Gaurav and maintained his position on top of the leader-board with 6.0 points. Joining the Ukraine Grandmasters were Belous Vladimir, Mozharov Mikhail (both Russia) and Dzhumaev Marat (Uzb) respectively.
Chakkravarthy and Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman stayed half a point behind the leaders. Also at 5.5 points was defending champion GM Ivan Popov who kept himself in range holding Ernst Sipke of The Netherlands on the top board.

Three more rounds remain in this 214 player 10-round Swiss tournament.
Round 7 Results (Indians unless specified): Ernst Sipke (Ned) 5.5 drew with Popov Ivan (Rus) 5.5, Dzhumaev Marat (Uzb) 6 bt Demchenko Anton (Rus) 5, Solodovnichenko Yuri (Ukr) 6 bt Kumar Gaurav 5, Mozharov Mikhail (Rus) 6 bt Rathnakaran K (5), Swapnil S Dhopade (5) Belous Vladimir (Rus) 6, Deepan Chakkravarthy J (5.5) drew with Bernadskiy Vitaliy (Ukr) 5.5, Ravi Teja S (5) drew with Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman (5.5), Raghunandan Kaumandur Srihari (4.5) lost to Sivuk Vitaly (Ukr) 5.5, Tukhaev Adam (Ukr) 5 drew with Shyaamnikhil P (5), Grachev Boris (Rus) 5 bt Mohamad Fahad Rahman (Ban) 4.