JOIN USGirish of Mysore defeated Augustin A of Kodagu to tally eight points after eight round of matches to take the sole lead.
Augustin opted for Queens Gambit declined opening line against Girish’s queen pawn opening. Augustin gave a tough fight to the champion all through the game but eventually lost the game in a winning endgame position.
Augustin as a result of the loss, stayed on six points with Naren Kumar in second place with seven points.
Important results (round 8): Girish A Koushik (Mysore, 8) bt Augustin A (Kodagu, 6); Amogha H A (Mys, 5.5) lt to Naren N Kumar (Ban, 7); Pangal Gopalkrishna Nayak (Man, 6.5) bt Bharadwaj Akshay (Ban, 5.5); Aryamitra Srinivasan (Ban, 5.5) lt to Varma Shabdhik (South Kanara, 6.5); Uttej (Ban, 6) bt Neeraj S Pai (Shi, 5); Nithin S Shetty (Shi, 5) lt to Arjun Bharat (Ban, 6); Abhiram K (Mys, 5) lt to Sharang M S (Ban, 6); Adityahrydai Srinivasan (Ban, 5) lt to Parthasarathy R (Ban, 6); Nikhil R Umesh (Bhadravathi, 5.5) drew with Ajay SM (Shi, 5.5); Goutham S (Ban, 5) lt to Satvik M (Ban, 5.5); Raghunandan K S (Ban, 5.5) bt Nischal P (Ban, 4.5); Vivekraj (Man, 5.5) bt Vibhuv Reddy P (Ban, 4.5); Shakthi P (Ban, 5.5) bt Kaushik H S (Ban, 4.5); Samarth Shivanda Sangam (Hubli, 4.5) lt to Nikhilesh M Holla (Man, 5.5); Deshik KJ (Mys, 5) bt Aditya H P (Ban, 4.5).