Five share lead after Round 5
Amit Sampat, TNN | Jun 17, 2013, 07.43 AM IST
NAGPUR: Five top rated players share the lead with full five points at the half way stage of the GH Raisoni Maharashtra State Open FIDE Rating Chess tournament currently in progress at the multipurpose hall of Saraswati Vidyalaya here on Sunday.
Top seed Mumbai-based IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni representing Railways, along with second seed Anup Deshmukh, seed No 3 Satchidanand Soman, No 5 ranked Akash Thakur and sixth seed Dilip Pagay registered victories in contrasting fashion to share the top slot with five points at the end of Round 5.
On the top board, Kulkarni playing with the black pieces outclassed Pankaj Pendalwar in 26 moves while Orange city’s first IM Anup Deshmukh registered a hard fought 44-move win over Shubham Lakudkar on the second board.
Third seed Fide Master Satchidanand Soman defeated the Kings Pawn opening of Shweta Gole while the Sicilian defence of IM-elect Akash Thakur was enough for the experienced master to get the better of city youngster Prasad Aurangabadkar. On the fifth board, secretary of Maharashtra Chess Association, Dilip Pagay playing with the white pieces made good use of his opening advantage to prevail over Chinmay Pathak and collect full points.
A day after being held by a lower ranked opponent, fourth seed Sauravh Khherdekar bounced back to get the better of Kawaljeet Singh Maras and share the second spot with 4.5 points along side Shailesh Dravid.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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