Diptayan Ghosh stays in lead bunch after second draw

GM Diptayan Ghosh, seeded second, was today held to a draw for the second successive match but managed to stay in the lead bunch after round six in the 10th Mumbai Mayor's Cup International Open Chess Tournament here.
India's Ghosh (ELO 2569), who had a fine start in the tournament by recording four straight wins in the opening rounds, slipped a bit after failing to score a win in the last two rounds.
After drawing with Bangladesh GM Murshed Niaz (2423) in the earlier round, Ghosh was held to yet another draw by Tajikistan's IM Muhammad Khusenkhojaev (2424) in the sixth round.

However, with five points to his credit, he remained with the lead bunch which was joined by top seed Farrukh Amonatov (2635) of Tajikistan, who scored a timely win.
The Tajikistan Grand Master, who had a poor fifth round as he was held to a draw by India's Saravana Krishnan P (2353), played at a completely different level to register a comfortable win against Indian IM Raghunandan Kaumandur Srihari (2410) to snatch the full point.
This was the fourth win for Amonatov and he will have to maintain the tempo in the remaining four rounds to clinch the top honours.

Results (Round 6 - top 10 boards): GM D Ghosh (2569, IND) 5 points drew with IM Khusenkhojaev Muhammad (2424, TJK) 5; GM Babujian Levon (2438, ARM) 5 drew with GM Tukhaev Adam (2567, UKR) 5; IM Sayantan Das (2401, IND) 5 drew with GM Mollah Abdullah Al Rakib (2484, BAN) 5; GM Deepan Chakkravarthy J (2480, IND) 5 drew with GM Murshed Niaz (2423, BAN) 5; IM Raghunandan Kaumandur Srihari (2410, IND) 4 lost to GM Amonatov Farrukh (2635, TJK) 5; GM Rahman Ziaur (2526, BAN) 5 beat IM Rathnakaran K (2378, IND) 4; Saravana Krishnan P (2353, IND) 4.5 drew with IM Karthikeyan P (2502, IND) 4.5; GM Grover Sahaj (2485, IND) 5 beat FM Karthik Venkataraman (2317, IND) 4; GM Deviatkin Andrei (2481, RUS) 5 beat Raahul V S (2282, IND) 4; Dileep Kumar R (2094, IND) 4 lost to GM Hossain Enamul (2464, BAN) 5.