Thejkumar plays out a draw; holds onto lead

On the penultimate day of the championship, the defending champion agreed to split the point with Satyapragyan of Indian Airlines, after the Bogo Indian game left them with no result to play for.

GM Praveen Thipsay moved back into contention with an emphatic win over former National ‘A’ player MB Muralidharan of Kerala in 27 moves from the black pieces. Replying with his favourite Two Knight's variation Thipsay accepted doubled pawns on c and e files. He activated his bishops well enough to set a winning attack forcing resignation from his opponent.

Thipsay moves on to 7.5 points and joins Varughese Koshy, Thipsay, Neelotpal Das, Satyapragyan Swayangsu, Navin Kanna and Shivananda in the second spot.

Results (round IX): Thejkumar (SWR, 8) drew Satyapragyan Swayangsu (IA, 7.5); Neelotpal Das (ONGC, 7.5) drew Laxman (ICF, 7.5); Muralidharan MB (Ker, 6.5) lt to Prtaveen Thipsay (Mah, 7.5); Sangma Rahul (Del, 6.5) lt to Koshy Varugeese (ONGC, 7.5); Shivananda BS (Kar, 7.5) bt Kunal M (TN, 6); Navin Kanna (TN, 7.5) bt Balkishan A (Kar, 7); Anilkumar OT (Ker, 7) drew Murali Krishnan BT (SR, 7); Sriram Sarja (Kar, 7) bt Maheswaran P (TN, 6); Tiwari Arjun (WR, 6.5) drew Bartakke Amardeep (SWR, 6.5); Niranjan Navalgund (Kar, 6.5) drew Babu N Sudhakar (IB, 6.5); Singh DP (SR, 6.5) drew Gagare Shardul (Mah, 6.5); Shashikant Kutwal (WRL, 6.5) drew Vinoth Kumar M (TN, 6.5); Hegde Ravi Gopal (UBI, 6) lt to Krishna CR (GAP, 7); Dave Kantilal (Raj, 6) lt to Gupte Meghan (Mah, 7); Gahan MG (DK Kar, 7) bt Phadke Sohan (Mah).