Muraleedharan, Soumya Ranjan in joint lead

By Our Sports Reporter

KOCHI, JUNE 23. Kerala's M.B. Muraleedharan, the top seed, brought down the high-flying Vijay Keerthi to earth in the 13th Cusat Open all-India FIDE-rated chess tournament at the Cochin University campus here on Saturday evening.

Karnataka's unrated 11-year-old Keerthi had worked up a stunning series in the last few rounds. And after surprising Tamil Nadu's Women Fide Master Safira Shahanaz in the sixth round this afternoon, he was the lone leader.

But the seventh round changed all that as Muraleedharan won the King's Indian game in just 27 moves. Muraleedharan, a former National `A' player, sacrificed a pawn in the 19th move which was accepted by Keerthi. The resultant combination ended in top seed's favour.

Muraleedharan, who suffered a stinging loss yesterday, was back in the title race with Saturday's victory. He now shares the lead with Orissa's Soumya Ranjan Mishra (14th seed) who shocked Kerala champion K. Ratnakaran, the third seed, in 27 moves of French Defence advanced variation. Both Muraleedharan and Ranjan Mishra have six points from seven rounds. Sunday is a rest day.

The results:

Seventh round: Vijay Keerthi (Kar, 5.5) lost to M.B. Muraleedharan (Ker, 6), Soumya Ranjan Mishra (Ori, 6) bt K.Ratnakaran (Ker, 5), N. Abdul Majeed (Ker, 5.5) drew with P.K. Suresh (Ker, 5.5), P. Sreekumar (Ker, 5) drew with R. Ganesh Bhat (Ker, 5.5), Merryston David (TN, 5) drew with U.C. Mohanan (Ker, 5), Sanjay Kumar (TN, 5.5) bt Safira Shahanaz (TN, 4.5), Joy Lazar (Ker, 5) drew with Santanu Lahiri (WB, 5), V. Rejith (Ker, 4.5) lost to N.T. Suresh Kumar (Ker, 5.5), R.K. Mishra (MP, 5) bt Aminul Islam (Bangladesh, 4), K.X. Augustus (Ker, 4) lost to K. Lakshminarayanan (Ker, 5), K. Haridas (TNSTC Nagercoil, 5) bt Nimmy A. George (Ker, 4), Vinod R. Sharma (MP, 5) bt Sukhpal Singh Kalsi (M.P., 4), P. Rajasekharan (TN, 5) bt P.V. Gireesh (Ker, 4), K.V. Devadasan (Ker, 5) bt A. Suresh Kumar (TN, 4), Zakia Sultana (Bangladesh, 4.5) drew with Afroza Khanam Bably (Bangladesh, 4.5), T. Chinnadurai (TN, 4.5) drew with J.M. Utarid (Karn, 4.5), Kaustubh Khare (Mah, 4) drew with Sanjay Bhattacharya (WB, 4), K.R. Madhusoodanan (Ker, 4.5) bt M. Vinod Kumar (TN, 3.5), P.S. Ameer (Ker, 4.5) bt P.Stanley Samson (TN, 3.5), K.A. Unas (Ker, 3.5) lost to Gopal Shah (4.5), S. Sriprasanth (Kar, 4.5) bt T.K. Joseph (Ker, 3.5), Derick Pinto (Karn, 4.5) bt Beno Glad (TN, 3.5), Masuda Begum (Bangladesh, 4) drew with Binju Oommen (Ker, 4), K. Prasanna (TN, 4.5) bt Deepak Singh Jariya (MP, 3.5), N.P. Francis (Ker, 4) bt A. Abdul Khader (Ker, 3.5), S.Sujatha (TN, 4) bt B. Bhaskara Rao (AP, 3), C.R. Raveendran (Ker, 3.5) drew with Kirti Singh (MP, 3.5), Surendra Sharma (3) lost to Bindu K. Saritha (Ker, 4), Aswathy Balagopal (Ker, 4) bt C.S. Praneesh Kumar (Ker, 3), T.N. Rejith Kumar (Ker, 3.5) drew with M.V.S. Prasad (AP, 3.5).

Sixth round: R. Ganesh Bhat drew with Abdul Majeed, Safira Shahanaz lost to Vijay Keerthi, P.K. Suresh drew with Soumya Ranjan Mishra, M.B. Muraleedharan bt K. Haridas, K. Ratnakaran bt Devadasan, Santanu Lahiri drew with P. Sreekumar, N.T. Suresh Kumar drew with R.K. Mishra, U.C. Mohanan bt K.A. Unas, Sanjay Bhattacharya lost to Sanjay Kumar, P.V. Gireesh drew with Zakia Sultana, Beno Glad lost to V. Rejith, Joy Lazar bt K.R. Madhusoodanan, Merryston David bt S. Sreeprasanth, K. Lakshminarayanan bt Derrick Pinto, G.S. Sreejith lost to Vinod R. Sharma, Afrosa Khanam bt T.L. Shaji, A. Suresh Kumar bt N.P. Francis, M. Vinod Kumar drew with P.S. Ameer, J.M. Utarid bt Jaise Joseph, S.S. Khalsi bt S. Sujatha, Tonis Thomas lost to K.X. Augustus, Aminul Islam bt C.R. Raveendran, M.V.S. Prasad lost to T. Chinnadurai, Bindu Saritha lost to P. Rajasekharan, T.K. Joseph drew with Masuda Begum, Nimmy George bt Sachin Hermb, Gopal Shah drew with Aswathy Balagopal, Binju Oommen bt O.A. Johnson, Stanley Samson bt G.N. Gopal, A. Mukund lost to K. Prasanna.

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