Sport - Chess

Himanshu, Rohith share lead

VIJAYAWADA JUNE14. Himanshu Sharma of Haryana and G. Rohith of Andhra Pradesh shared the lead with eight points each at the end of ninth round in the `Immortal Five' memorial all-India FIDE Open chess tournament being organised by SAAP and co-sponsored by Gautam Group of Educational Institutions at Andhra Gymkhana Club here today.

K. Ratnakaran opted for Modern Defence against Haryana's Himanshu Sharma to attack on the queenside. Cleverly, without taking risks, Ratnakaran tried to exploit the developing position on the board. However, with clever manoeuvre of pieces in the middle-game Himanshu Sharma got the better of his rival in 59 moves.

It was yet another satisfying day for Guntur boy, G. Rohith, The ninth standard student of Vignan School, preferred the King's Indian Defence in Classical Variation. Showing his growing stature in domestic circuit, the youngster showed a lot of maturity in manoeuvring his knight to telling effect on kingside to wrap up the game in 48 moves.

Top-seeded N. Sudhakar Babu of Indian Bank was back in contention with a 59-move draw against Andhra Pradesh State champion M. Srinivasa Rao. Trying for a novelty very early, Sudhakar opted for the less popular line of f3 only to miss the advantageous position. However, in the middle-game, Babu attacked only to see the rival defending well. With little scope for making headway, the two agreed for a truce. Srinivas has 7.5 points while Sudhakar seven at the end of ninth round.

Important results: 8th round:

K. Ratnakaran (Ker) 7.5 bt M. Srinivasa Rao (7); Y.G. Vijendra (Kar) 5 lost to Himanshu Sharma (Har) 7; G. Rohith (AP) 7 bt M.A. Joy Larza (Ker) 6; L.V. Sivakumar (AP) 6 lost to C.S. Sridhar (SRly) 7; Akash Thakur (Maha) 5.5 lost to N. Sudhakar Babu ( Indian Bank) 6.5; A. Shankar (SRly) 5.5 lost bt R.B. Muralidharan (Ker) 6.5; J.V. Ramana (AP) 5.5 lost to S. Rishipal Singh (AP) 6.5; G. Balaji (AP) 6.5 bt R. Ganesh Bhat (AP) 5.5; B.S. Sivanand (Kar) 6.5 bt P. Rajesh (TN) 5.5; S. Maria Arul (TN) 6 bt N. Vinutna (AP) 5; R.K. Mishra (MP) 6 bt Kirthi Singh (AP) 5; J. Austin Samson (TN) 5 lost to D. Lakshman Rao (AP) 6; H. Nila Voli (TN) 5.5 drew with V. Hariharan (Indian Bank) 5.5; Pratik R. Shriwas (Maha) 5 lost to Manoj Mishra (MP) 6; S.R. Mishra (Ori) 5.5 drew with N. Haribalu (TN) 5.5; R. Anantha Krishnan (TN) 6 bt M. Priyadarshini (TN) 5; Vinod Bhagawat (Maha) 6 bt C.R.G. Krishna (AP) 5; J. Malleswara Rao (AP) 6 bt Aswani Jayaraman (TN) 5; P. Maheshwaran (TN) 6 bt Y.K. Kalyan Kumar (AP) 5; M. Rajadarshini (TN) 6 bt Sukhpal Singh (AP)6.

9th round: Himanshu Sharma (Har) 8 bt K. Ratnakaran (Ker) 7.5; C.S. Sridhar (SRly) 7 lost to G. Rohith (AP) 8; N. Sudhakar Babu (Indian Bank) 7 drew with M. Srinivasa Rao (AP) 7.5; M.B. Muralidharan (Ker) 7.5 bt G. Balaji (Maha) 6.5; S. Rishipal Singh (AP) 6.5 lost to B.S. Sivanand (Kar) 6.5; J. Malleswara Rao (AP) 6 lost to S. Maria Arul (SRly) 7; L.V. Sivakumar

(AP) 7 bt R.K. Mishra (AP) 6; D. Lakshman Rao (AP) 7 bt Navaneetha Krishnan (TN) 6; Manoj Mishra (MP) 6 lost to P. Maheshwari (TN) 7; D. Sai Srinivas (AP) 6 lost Vinod Bhagawat (Maha) 7; Joy Lazarus (Ker) 6 lost to Y.G. Vijendra (Kar) 7; J. Ramakrishna (AP) 6 drew with N. Rajadarshini (TN) 6.5; S.A. Sazuli (ICP) 6.5 bt Shantanu Lahiri (WB) 5.5; Saket Sharma (Bihar) 5.5 lost to Akash Thakur (MCA) 6.5; V. Hariharan (Indian Bank) 6.5 bt N.V.S. Ramaraju (AP) 6.5; V. Haribalu (TN) 5.5 lost to J.V. Ramana (AP) 6.5; V. Rajith (LIC) 5.5 lost to K. Ramu (AP) 6.5; E.P. Nirmal (Ker) 6.5 bt P. Praveen Prasad (AP) 5.5.

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