Swapnil and Himanshu on song

By Gopakumar

Ahmedabad (17 Aug 17) :- Decisive results on top two boards paved the way for Grandmasters Swapnil Dhopade and Himanshu Sharma to share the lead with six and half points at the half-way stage of National Challengers Chess Championship at Karanvati Club here today.

Playing with light pieces in Ruy Lopez game, Himanshu beat overnight joint leader Sammed Jaykumar Shete of Maharashtra while Swapnil accounted for top seed Aravindh Chithambaram in a Catalan game that lasted 79 moves.

A pack of 13 players including second seed S L Narayanan and third seed Lalith Babu M R are chasing the leaders at 5.5 points. Narayanan put it across Ram S Krishnan of BSNL while Lalith outwitted Shashikant Kutwal of Maharshtra.

Continuing his fine run in the championship, Gujarat youngster Udit Kamdar moved to the joint second spot after holding International Master Swayams Mishra of Air India. In other surprising result of the day, Maharashtra youngster Nikhil Dixit shocked Grandmaster Tejas Bakre.

In the crucial eighth round tomorrow, Swapnil takes on Narayanan while Himanshu deal with Lalith Babu.

Important Results (Round-7) :- GM Himanshu Sharma of RLYS (6.5) beat Sammed Jaykumar Shete of MAH (5.5); GM Aravindh Chithambaram of TN (5) lost to GM Swapnil Dhopade of RLYS (6.5); Akash PC Iyer of TN (5.5) drew with GM Abhijit Kunte of PSPB (5.5); GM Deepan Chakkravarthy of RLYS (5.5) drew with Arghyadip Das of RLYS (5.5); IM Swayams Mishra of AI (5.5) drew with Udit Kamdar of GUJ (5.5); GM SL Narayanan of KER (5.5) beat Ram S Krishnan of BSNL (4.5); IM Shashikant Kutwal of MAH (4.5) lost to GM MR Lalith Babu of PSPB (5.5); GM Debashis Das of ODI (5.5) beat Chakravarthi Reddy M (4.5); Sankalp Gupta of MAH (5) drew with IM Shyaamnikhil P of RLYS (5); IM Nitin S of RLYS (5) drew with Lokesh N of TN (5); IM S Satyapragyan of AI (5) drew with Koustav Chatterjee of WB (5); Rajesh Nayak of ODI (4.5) lost to IM Ravi Teja of RLYS (5.5); Jayakumaar S of TN (5) drew with GM Sriram Jha of LIC (5); WIM Jennitha Anto K of TN (5) drew with Hemant Sharma of RLYS (5); Joy Pankaj Shah of GUJ (4.5) lost to WGM Mary Ann Gomes of PSPB (5.5).