But the day belonged to unfancied Bitan Banerjee of Bengal and Maharashtra's Sagar Shah for carving out creditable draws against GM Praveen Thipsay and GM Deepan Chakravarthy respectively.
Gopal won an interesting game against GM Sundarajan Kidambi with white pieces in a French Tarrasch.
Despite the complications in the middle game, Gopal was in control of the position and won the game comfortably in 28 moves.
WGM Mary Ann Gomes went down tamely to GM Neelotpal Das in a Reti Opening.
Mary Ann
