Calcutta, Aug. 14 :    Calcutta, Aug. 14:  With qualification to the world championship at stake, there were a spate of draws in Round 8 of the Asian men's chess championship at Gorky Sadan today. While most of the players on the top eight boards were content to maintain their positions with very quick draws, there was a fierce fight on the other boards to seal the other two positions for the coveted top-ten finish. Xu Jun still leads the field with 6.5 points. On a dull, insipid day, Dibyendu Barua provided some excitement in his game against Darmen Sadvakasov of Kazakhstan. After his unexpected setback in the seventh round, Barua was at his creative best today. Playing with white, Barua effectively mobilised his pieces against Sadvakasov's king in a Sicilian defence. He sacrificed his bishop and then his rook to weave a mating net around his opponent's king. With this win Barua jumped back into contention with five points. Spectators had expected some fireworks from Pentalya Harikrishna, who is in sight of his third GM norm. But Harikrishna disappointed by agreeing to a quick draw with the white pieces against Tahir Vakhidov of Uzbekistan. Harikrishna,who has been paired with Xu Jun in the ninth round, now needs only a draw to get a nine-round GM norm. Harikrishna, though, will have to wait till the final round to become India's youngest Grandmaster at 15. He already has two GM norms in 19 Swiss league games. Fide rules stipulate that a player has to get GM norms spanning 30 games in Swiss format. IM Surya Sekhar Ganguly drew against Indian Coach Evgeny Vladimirov of Kazakhstan in a cliff-hanger.Despite being a pawn ahead, Ganguly had to cope with pressure against his king. But he drew by perpetual check by sacrificing his rook in the endgame. Top Board Results (8th Round) Saidali Iuldachev (6) drew Xu Jun (7) ; Alexei Barsov(5.5) drew Dung Anh Nguyen (5.5); P. Harikrishna (5.5) drew IM Tahir Vakhidov (5.5); S.S. Ganguly (5) drew Evegeny Vladimirov (5); Wang Zili (5) drew Marat Dzhumaev (5); Li Wenliang (5)drew Leonid Yurtaev (5); Shukhrat Safin (5) drew Mohamad AlModiahki (5); Yu Shaoteng (5) drew Zhang Pengxiang (5); Maghami Ghaem (5.5) bt Zagrebelny Sergei (4.5); Krishnan Sasikiran (4.5) drew Praveen Thipsay (5); Peng Xiaomin (5) bt Ziaur Rahman (4); Handszar Odeev(5) bt Utut Adianto (4); Dibyendu Barua (5) bt Darmen Sadvakasov (4); Abdulla AlRakib (4) lost to Wu Wenjin (5); Morteza Mahjoob (4) lost to Liang Chong (5). OTHER INDIANS: Abhijit Kunte (4.5) bt D.V. Prasad (3.5); P. Konguvel (4.5) bt Orazly Annageldyev; Pavel Kotsur (4) bt Sriram Jha (3.5); Rahman Manfuzur (3) lost to Lanka Ravi (4); Sandipan Chanda (3) drew Neeraj Mishra (3)