MANIPAL:
Kishan Gangolli
of India inched his way closer to the
IBCA Asian Championship
title notwithstanding a draw in the sixth round of the meet underway at the Dr T M A Pai Hall on Wednesday. With two more rounds to go in the event, Kishan (5.5) is half-a-point ahead of his nearest challengers Soundarya and
Ashwin K Makwana
, both on five points apiece. Top seed of the meet
Ejaz Husain
of Bangladesh is lagging behind at 4 points.
State lad Kishan who had smooth sailing so far, conceded half a point to
Swapnil Shah
of India (Maharashtra). Kishan playing on the top board with white against Swapnil started with Queens Pawn opening. Swapnil opted for the Bogo Indian defence. Although the leader was in a slightly better position from the beginning, he could not convert that advantage into a win. Swapnil at the receiving end defended coolly and the two agreed for a draw on the 60th move.
On second board Soundarya Kumar Pradhan of (Odisha) India played with white pieces against Ejaz Husain. Both were evenly placed up to the middle game. But a mistake by Ejaz on the 23rd move proved costly and Soundarya played carefully and forced Husain to surrender on the 50th move.
Results: Kishan Gangolli (Ind) 5.5 drew Swapnil Shah (Ind) 4; Soundarya Kumar Pradhan (Ind) 5 beat Ejaz Husain (Ban) 4; B L Somender (Ind) 3 lost to Ashwin K Makwana (Ind) 5; Marimuthu K (Ind) 3.5 drew Krishna Udupa (Ind) 3.5; Yudhajeet De (Ind) 4 beat Prachurya Kumar Pradhan (Ind) 3; Aryan B Joshi (Ind) 3.5 beat Mrunali Pande (Ind) 2.5; Shirish Patil (Ind) 3 beat Milind Samant (Ind) 2.5; Sachin Lahu Waghmare (Ind) 3 beat Vaishali Narendra Salavkar (Ind) 2; Rodolfo D Sarmiento (Phi) 3 beat Jose Antonio M Maraguinot (Phi) 1.5; Bappi Sarkar (Ban) 2.5 beat Indrajith Liyana Arachchilage Upul (SL) 1; Rushdi Tuan (SL) 2 beat Sanjeewa Karunarathna Hiriyamulla Vithange (SL) 0.
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