Raahul and Savitha Shri in sole lead
In the open section,VS.Raahul defeated Sri Lankan Liyanage Ranindu Dilshan to be on 6.5 out of 7 games and remain one point lead over his compatriot Harshavardhan GB.
Mitraba Guha,Vardaan Nagpal and Raghunandan Srihari are on 5 points each.
In the Girls section Savitha Shri drew her game against Iranian Anousha Mahdian to be on 6 points out of 7 games and extends her lead to half point over her compatriot K.priyanka who is currently on the second spot
With 2 more rounds to go,stage is set for an exciting finish
Raahul-Liyanage Ranindu Dilshan 1-0
Started as 1.c4,it soon transposed to typical QGD with Carlsbad structure.White was well prepared and got the slight edge in the opening.After opening up the queenside,Raahul’s major pieces invaded the 7th rank to remain a pawn up and managed to covert the game to a full point in Rook and pawn endgame without much difficulties.
Vardaan Nagpal-Raghunandan Srihari Draw
In King’s Indian fianchetto system,white employed Qc2 followed by Rd1.Black decided to complicate the game by playing 14.d5.However White reacted well to maintain an edge,However Raghunandan was resourceful and held the game to a draw without much difficulties
Isara Dahanayake-Harshavardhan 0-1
Black responded with Classical Sicilian against White’s 1.e4.Soon after the opening,Black got an pleasant edge and managed to win a pawn around move 22.In a dynamic position that followed,Harshavardhan outcalculated white with precise calculations to take home a full point
Lisara Tennakoon-Mitraba Guha 0-1
Started as London system,Black got an slight edge after the opening.White blundered his Bishop around move 23 and Guha managed to win the game effortlessly.
Savitha Shri-Anousha Mahdian Draw
Started as caro kann, the position looked equal with certain dynamics in the opening.Position was slightly complicated in the middlegame,however game soon fizzled out to a draw
Priyanka-Gamage 1-0
Black played 2.g6 in Sicilian and white got comfortable edge soon after the opening.Black made a serious inaccuracy in her 17th move and white exploited it to win the game comfortably.