Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, June 5: WCM Saina Salonika of Orissa continued to impress as she prevailed over Shelke Sankarha in her fifth round match in the category-A of the Mumbai Mayor International Open Chess Tournament here Sunday. She has now a total of three points with three wins and two defeats.
Indian players also impressed as International Master NR Visakh of Tamil Nadu causing ripples with a stunning win over GM Mikhail Ulybin of Russia. GM Diptayan Ghosh emerged sole leader after five rounds of the tournament.
Ghosh leads the field with five points, followed by five others – GM Swapnil Dhopade, Tajakistan GM Amanatov Farruk, Shailesh Dravid of Nagpur, Himal Gusain of Haryana and IM Visakh N R of Tamil Nadu, all of whom had tallied 4.5 points.
Top seeded GM Popov Ivan of Russia had his second poor round when he was held by Delhi’s Hemant Sharma in just 20 moves. The game between Ulybin (ELO 2520) and Visakh (ELO 2400) was going well for both players till the 30th move. On the 31st sensing a knight fork, the Russian GM made a blunder, as Visakh’s bishops were guarding the attacking squares, leading to his resignation in 35 moves.