Harikrishna emerges sole leader

Grandmaster Pendyala Harikrishna, the overnight joint leader, easily won against B T Murlikrishna to emerge sole leader with seven points at the end of the eighth round in the Bharat Petroleum 39th national 'A' chess championship in Nagpur on Thursday.

He is closely followed by GM Dibyendu Barua, who was held to a draw by Vishal Sareen in a keenly-fought game.

International Master S Ganguly is in third place. He outwitted Shriram Jha in a wild game.

Harikrishna, playing white, opened with his queen and saw Murlikrishnan playing queen's gambit accepted. The position was level till the 15th move. Murlikrishnan's 16th move opened the floodgates for a king side attack by Harikrishna. Finding that mate could be avoided only with heavy loss of material, Murlikrishnan resigned on the 24th move.

Woman Grandmaster Vijaylakshmi, playing black against GM Pravin Thipsay's king pawn opening, relied on Petrof defence. Thipsay went into middle game after losing one pawn on the 19th move and recovered it on the 25th.

Finding that Vijaylakshmi had a better position and he was short of time, Thipsay offered a draw on 26th move. Games went into sudden death with Vijaylakshmi having advantage in the rook and pawns ending. She had no difficulty in winning the endgame and recorded her first win of the meet in 64 moves.