Venkatesh marches ahead

Venkatesh had little difficulty in putting it across Kartikeyan in a Scotch defence on the top board to make it 6.5 points, and he was followed by GM Deep Sengupta, IM Swapnil Dhopade, GM G N Gopal and GM Sahaj Grover.

National U-25 champion Swapnil of Railways drew against GM Deep Sengupta with the black pieces in 38 moves in a Sicilian defence.

Deep drew by perpetual check when Swapnil threatened a mating against him as the latter now needs a draw in the next round to get his maiden GM norm.

GM G N Gopal made short work of IM S Satyapragyan in a sharp tactical game which arose from the Sicilian defence.

FM Anurag Mhamal of Goa held GM Abhijit Kunte with the black pieces as his threat of winning a piece forced the latter to draw by perpetual check.

GM Sahaj Grover showed his class by shattering G Akash's kingside with a bishop sacrifice on move 14 in a closed Sicilian.

Grover won three pawns for the pieces after which Akash struggled to defend king and went down in 28 moves.

IM Vidit Gujarathi continued his impressive run to draw against GM S Arun Prasad in 27 moves in the exchange variation of the Slav defence.

In a clash between two Bengal players, Bitan Banerjee held GM Neelotpal Das to a draw in 25 moves after the exchange of the major pieces in a Catalan opening.

Former national champion, GM Dibyendu Barua went down to GM Deepan Chakraborty in a marathon 67 moves.

Another former champion GM Praveen Thipsay registered his first win in the tournament, outplaying FM V A V Rajesh in 62 moves in an opposite-bishop ending. MORE