JOIN USNeeraj Pai of Shimoga opted Sicilian Rossolimo variation with the second seed Akshay Bharadwaj of Bangalore but, despite the initial advantage, could only muster a draw in 53 moves.
Bangalore’s Satvik M lost to a unrated City-mate Ishan Bansal.
Important results (round V): Augustin A (4) lt to Girish A Koushik (5); Neeraj S Pai (4) drew Bharadwaj Akshay (4.5); Aditya Pai K (4.5) bt Chirag M Ramesh (3.5); Sharan Rao (4.5) bt Tulsi M (3.5); Ajay SM (3.5) lt to Kaushik HS (4.5); Satvik M (3) lt to Ishan Bansal (4); Anantharam RU (4) bt Naman M Shetty (3); Varma Shabdhik (4) bt Rahul Gowda DA (3); Akash K Shetty (3) lt to Vijeth TA (4); Pangal Gopalkrishna Nayak (4) bt Sunil Bhargav N (3); Amogh Narayan (3) lt to Vivekraj (4); Nischal P (3.5) drew Swathi Bhat (3.5); Manasa HR (4) bt Vishruth Sham (3); Prerana S Bharadwaj (3) lt to Adityahrydai Srinivasan (4); Naren N Kumar (3.5) bt Dheeraj H (2.5); Priyanka S Bharadwaj (2.5) lt to Amogha HA (3.5); Rajath Rao KN (3.5) bt Parthasarathy R (2.5); Nikhil R Umesh (2.5) lt to Anishcharith C Bhandary (3.5); Yashaskar Jois (3) drew Nishanth S (3); Prabhanjan LS (3.5) bt Tejas Prasad (2.5).