Neelotpal outwitted Abhijit Gupta

Visakhapatnam: Defending champion GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly defeated Rahul Shetty to stay on top after Round 11 of the 42nd national A chess championship.

Surya took his tally to 8.5 points and is now a full point clear of nearest contenders, GM Sandipan Chanda and IM Neelotpal Das.

With eight rounds still remaining in this marathon event, GM Abhijit Kunte (7) is also in contention for top honours.

Kunte?s winning run was halted by IM S. Kidambi who agreed to a quick draw. Sandipan also signed the peace with Subhrajit Saha while Neelotpal was impressive in outwitting young Abhijit Gupta.

Surya was on fire right from the word go against Shetty. Surya employed the Grunfeld defence for the second time running and Shetty was at sea in the middle game as complexities surfaced.

Winning an exchange in the middle-game, Surya quickly sealed the game with immaculate technique.

It turned out to be a good day for Neelotpal as he won a long-drawn game against Gupta. Up against the Trompowsky, Neelotpal was in his element as he seized the initiative. After the dust had settled, the Calcutta player had queen against two pieces of Gupta.

The result was never in doubt and Neelotpal completed the formalities in the fourth hour of the session.

After a sluggish last few rounds, seasoned GM Dibyendu Barua found his winning touch with a fine victory over Prathamesh Mokal who employed the Sicilian defence.

Winning a pawn early in the middle-game, Barua left nothing to chance and exchanged pieces in quick time to reach a won bishop and pawns endgame.

In the day?s biggest upset, Sriram Jha scored over GM Koneru Humpy. In another important result, IM Deepan Chakravarthy accounted for D. Harika. (PTI)