AS MANY as five players — Kumar Gaurav from Bihar, Indrajeet Mahindrakar from Maharashtra, Giant Killer of Round 4 Swarna Nihal of Andhra Pradesh, Rupam Mukherjee of West Bengal and Kartik Kumar Singh of Maharashtra were leading the tables with five and half points each at end of sixth round of 16th GH Raisoni Memorial International FIDE Rating Chess Tournament in progress at GH Raisoni Institute of Information and Technology, Shraddha Park, on Tuesday. The sixth round saw players employing cautious approach with top four board games ending in draws. All the overnight leaders, who were leading at the end of Round 5, continued to lead the tables after sixth round.

 

However, on fifth board veteran KN Gopal of Telangana scored a victory over Ayush Shirodkar of Goa. In a queen pawn unorthodox opening game, Gopal, playing with black pieces, equalised early. Both players tried to complicate the position, however after exchange of queens, the game went to endgame. Gopal used all his experience to score full point in the battle that lasted 81 moves. On the top table, Kumar Gaurav was held to a draw by Kartik Kumar Singh in 41 moves. Second board saw a very lengthy Rook ending game between Indrajeet Mahindra of Maharashtra and Swarna Nihal of Andhra Pradesh which also ended in a draw after 68 moves.