Samvel, Jacek in pole position

Grandmaster Samvel Ter-Sahakyan of Armenia and IM Jacek Stopa of Poland snatched the pole position from overnight leader Uzbek GM Marat Dzhumaev who blundered under time pressure in the sixth round of the SREI International Grandmasters Chess tournament here today.
Marat unexpectedly overlooked his back rank weakness in a Sicilian defence with white pieces and lost a piece before going down to the Armenian GM who shared the lead with Stopa with five points each.
IM Murali Kartikeyan was the performer of the day as he upset GM Levon Babujian of Armenia to keep his hopes for a GM norm alive.

Opting for the queen's gambit declined Kartikeyan had an extra pawn in a rook and bishop versus rook and bishop ending.
IM Anurag Mhamal, too, kept his GM norm chances alive with a 17-move draw against second seed GM Ivan Popov after exchange of queens and a couple of minor pieces.
GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly, the top seed, obtained an advantageous position against Drazic Sinisa before settling for a tame draw.

Meanwhile, GMs Tejas Bakre and Niaz Murshed withdrew from the tournament citing health reasons.
Top Board Results
Marat Dzhumaev (4.5) lost to GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan (5); IM Anurag Mhamal (4.5) drew GM Ivan Popov (4.5); IM Mikhail Mozharov (4.5) drew GM Tornike Sanikidze (4.5); GM Merab Gagunashvilli (4) lost to IM Jacek Stopa (5); GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly (4) drew GM Drazic Sinisa (4); GM Levan Pantsulaia (4.5) b GM Neelotpal Das (3.5); GM Deep Sengupta (4.5) b IM Swayams Mishra (3.5); WGM Mary Ann Gomes (4) drew GM Vladislav Borovikov (4); GM Praveen Thipsay (4) drew GM Valeriy Neverov (4); GM Levon Babujian (3.5) lost to IM Murali Kartikeyan (4.5); Vahe Baghdasaryan (3.5) lost to GM Hovik Hayrapetyan (4.5); GM Azer Mirzoev (3.5) drew N R Visakh (3.5); M Kunal (4) w/o GM Niaz Murshed (3); Bahruz Rzayev (3.5) drew N R Vignesh (3.5); GM R R Laxman (4) b IM Prathamesh Sunil Mokal (3).