Harikrishna and Barua share lead

Grandmasters Pendyala Harikrishna and Dibyendu Barua shared the lead at the end of fifth round in the Bharat Petroleum 39th National 'A' chess championship in Nagpur on Monday.

Harikrishna played his pet Catalan opening against International Master Shriram Jha. The latter sacrificed the exchange when the game entered the tactical stage. Jha was banking on his advanced 'c' file passer but Harikrishna kept the pawn well under control and utilizing the weak King position of Jha, registered the win in 39 moves.

GM Barua and C S Gokhale played a Guico Piano game. Barua played resourcefully, opened the 'h' file and turned down Gokhale's offer of draw. Under time pressure, Gokhale played weakly and handed Barua the match on the 54th move.

Monday's round saw two upsets, when IM Sudhakar Babu beat GM Pravin Thipsay while Woman International Master Swati Ghate defeated IM N K Mishra.

GM K Sasikiran was held to a draw by IM R B Ramesh.

Playing black, Ramesh played Slav defence and captured on 'c4'. Sasikiran allowed him to cling to the pawn in the hope of some play in the middlegame. However, when a drawish ending was reached, the players split the points on the 33rd move.