<p> State champion Stany, who now has seven points, is in joint first place with Ramnathan Balasubramaniam of ICF, Mehar Chinna Reddy, youngster of Andra Pardesh. While top seed C Praveen Kumar, former state champion Arvinda Shastry, Malleswara Rao of Andhra Pradesh and Phoobalan P of ICF are in the second spot with 6.5 points each. <br /><br />On the third board, Tamil Nadu state junior champ Navin Kanna played with an unorthodox opening against Stany. On the 10th move Stany sacrificed a pawn to gain space advantage but the position remained largely unclear for a few more moves. <br /><br />However, in the middle game, Navin misjudged the position and made an inferior Knight move which gave Stany slight advantage. The game ended in the 57th move.<br />Important results (Round VIII): Phoobalan P (ICF, 6.5) lt to Ramnathan Balasubramaniam (ICF, 7); Praveen Kumar C (TN, 6. 5) drew with Arvind Shastry (6.5); Navin Kanna T U (TN, 6) lt to Stany G A (Kar, 7); Mehar Chinna Reddy C H (AP, 7) bt Srinivasa Rao M (AP, 5.5); Shripad K V (5.5) lt to Rao J Malleswara (AP. 6.5); Shreyans K Shah (Mah, 6.5) bt Karthik H S (5.5); Yashas D (6.5) drew Navalgund Niranjan (6); Balasubramanian A (TN, 5) lt to Sanjay N (6); Barath L (AP, 5) lt to Anilkumar O T (Ker, 6); Linda Rangarajan (TN, 6) bt Subramanian T V (TN, 5); Manasa K (6) bt Darshan V P S (5); Arjun T K S (TN, 5.5) drew Shruthi K (5.5); Jitendria Vels (TN, 6) bt Mugil Jayavel (TN, 5); Sekar B (TN, 5.5) drew Karthikeyan Murali (TN, 5.5).<br /><br />Sydney Lewis (4.5) lt to Vijendra Y G (5.5); Arjun Bharat (5.5) bt Manjunath J (4.5); Satvik M (4.5) lt to Konde Gaurav AP, 5.5); Raju M (5.5) bt Augustin A (4.5); Yogesh Gautam (5.5) bt Gavi Siddayya (4.5); Shreeshan S (5.5) drew Prachura P P (5).</p>
<p> State champion Stany, who now has seven points, is in joint first place with Ramnathan Balasubramaniam of ICF, Mehar Chinna Reddy, youngster of Andra Pardesh. While top seed C Praveen Kumar, former state champion Arvinda Shastry, Malleswara Rao of Andhra Pradesh and Phoobalan P of ICF are in the second spot with 6.5 points each. <br /><br />On the third board, Tamil Nadu state junior champ Navin Kanna played with an unorthodox opening against Stany. On the 10th move Stany sacrificed a pawn to gain space advantage but the position remained largely unclear for a few more moves. <br /><br />However, in the middle game, Navin misjudged the position and made an inferior Knight move which gave Stany slight advantage. The game ended in the 57th move.<br />Important results (Round VIII): Phoobalan P (ICF, 6.5) lt to Ramnathan Balasubramaniam (ICF, 7); Praveen Kumar C (TN, 6. 5) drew with Arvind Shastry (6.5); Navin Kanna T U (TN, 6) lt to Stany G A (Kar, 7); Mehar Chinna Reddy C H (AP, 7) bt Srinivasa Rao M (AP, 5.5); Shripad K V (5.5) lt to Rao J Malleswara (AP. 6.5); Shreyans K Shah (Mah, 6.5) bt Karthik H S (5.5); Yashas D (6.5) drew Navalgund Niranjan (6); Balasubramanian A (TN, 5) lt to Sanjay N (6); Barath L (AP, 5) lt to Anilkumar O T (Ker, 6); Linda Rangarajan (TN, 6) bt Subramanian T V (TN, 5); Manasa K (6) bt Darshan V P S (5); Arjun T K S (TN, 5.5) drew Shruthi K (5.5); Jitendria Vels (TN, 6) bt Mugil Jayavel (TN, 5); Sekar B (TN, 5.5) drew Karthikeyan Murali (TN, 5.5).<br /><br />Sydney Lewis (4.5) lt to Vijendra Y G (5.5); Arjun Bharat (5.5) bt Manjunath J (4.5); Satvik M (4.5) lt to Konde Gaurav AP, 5.5); Raju M (5.5) bt Augustin A (4.5); Yogesh Gautam (5.5) bt Gavi Siddayya (4.5); Shreeshan S (5.5) drew Prachura P P (5).</p>