Top seed B Adhiban returned to winning ways by beating Srijit Paul after being held to a draw by International Master Koustav Chatterjee of West Bengal in the third round of the 58th Senior National Chess Championship on Saturday.
Aryan Chopra, Arjun Erigaisi and D Gukesh are in joint lead with four points after the fourth round. The trio have won all their matches so far. While Aryan defeat Anustoop Biswas, the in-form Erigaisi beat S Ravi Teja and Gukesh got the better of Utsab Chatterjee. Adhiban is in joint second spot with eight others.
Earlier in the day, Adhiban signed the peace treaty with his West Bengal opponent Chatterjee after 73 moves in an opposite colour bishop and rook ending. Grandmaster Erigaisi of Telangana beat International Master Sayantan Das of Railways while Gueksh, Aryan and Harsha accounted for Sammed Jaykumar Shete of Maharashtra, Anuj Shrivatri of Madhya Pradesh and Harshad S of Tamil Nadu respectively in the third round.
Former champions Karthikeyan Murali, Sethuraman S P, Lalith Babu M R and defending champion Aravindh Chithambaram had to be satisfied with half a point each in their respective third round outings against R R Laxman, Srijit Paul, Srihari L R and Shahil Dey. In the second round, Jeet Jain of Gujarat held Grandmaster Abhimanyu Puranik, while Grandmaster P Iniyan suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Suyog Wagh of Maharashtra.
Important Results:
Round 3:
GM Adhiban B of PSPB (2.5) drew with IM Koustav Chatterjee of West Bengal (2.5);
IM Sayantan Das of Railways (2) lost to Arjun Erigaisi of Telangana (3);
GM Abhijeet Gupta of PSPB (3) beat IM Shyaamnikhil P of Railways (2);
GM Laxman RR of Railways (2.5) drew with GM Karthikeyan Murali of PSPB (2.5);
GM Sethuraman SP of PSPB (2.5) drew with IM Srijit Paul of West Bengal (2.5);
GM Gukesh D of Tamil Nadu (3) beat IM Sammed Jaykumar Shete (2);
IM Shahil Dey of Assam (2.5) drew with GM Aravindh Chithamabram of Tamil Nadu (2.5);
GM Aryan Chopra of Delhi (3) beat IM Anuj Shrivatri of Madhya Pradesh (2);
IM Srihari L R of Tami Nadu (2.5) drew with GM Lalith Babu M R of PSPB (2.5);
Ritviz Parab of Goa (2.5) drew with GM Mitrabha Guha of West Bengal (2.5);
FM Harshad S of Tamil Nadu (2) lost to GM Harsha Bharathakoti (3);
GM Swapnil Dhopade of Railways (2) lost to Utsab Chatterjee of West Bengal (3);
IM Ratnakaran K of Railways (2.5) drew with IM Aditya Mittal of Maharashtra (2.5);
FM Jain Kashish Manoj of Maharashtra (2.5) drew with IM Aronyak Ghosh of West Bengal (2.5);
Ravi Teja S (3) beat FM Suyog Wagh of Maharashtra (2);
GM Visakh N R of Railways (1.5) lost to Anustoop Biswas of West Bengal (3);
Anadkat Kartavya of Gujarat (1.5) lost to GM Abhimanyu Puranik of Maharashtra (2.5);
GM Sankalp Gupta of Maharashtra (2) drew with IM Saravana Krishnan P of Tamil Nadu (2);
Jeet Jain of Gujarat (1.5) lost to GM Deep Sengupta of PSPB (2.5);
IM Manish Anto Cristiano of Tamil Nadu (1.5) lost to GM Deepan Chakkravarthy of Railways (2.5).
Round 2:
Sai Agni Jeevitesh lost to Adhiban B;
Arjun Erigaisi beat Ayush Sharma;
Sharan Rao lost to Abhijeet Gupta;
Karthikeyan Murali beat Niranjan Navalgund;
Rahul Sangma lost to Sethuraman.
