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Bhubaneswar, May 29: As many as six Orissa players registered victories in their respective matches along with IM Swayams Mishra in the eighth round of the Elite category of the VIIIth KIIT International Chess Festival here Friday.
Swayams defeated S Harini of Tamil Nadu easily to remain in the joint third spot with 5.5 points. But GM Debashis Das drew his match against RR Laxman to slip to joint fourth.
In the other matches played of the day Rakesh Kumar Jena, Sidhant Mohapatra, Rajesh Nayak, Ashirbad Swain and Kiran Manisha Mohanty won their respective matches. Rakesh beat S Adhitiya, Sidhant overcame Neelesh Saha, Rajesh trounced R Prajesh and Ashirwad defeated Manush Shah respectively. After losing a couple of games, Kiran Manisha also marked her name in the winning column beating statemate Rajendra Kumar Sahoo.
Sandipan Chanda of West Bengal emerged as the sole leader in the Elite category after the eighth round with 6.5 points. He is followed by six players in the joint second
position with six points each.
In the premium category, it was a bad in office for Orissa players as the Thursday table-toppers Biswahari Sahu, Ankita Sahoo, Ashok Jaju lost their top positions after sixth round Friday.
Bishal Patnaik and Lochan Kumar Das are the top ranked players among Orissa with five points apiece. Biswahari Sahu and Ashok Kumar Jaju slipped to joint fourth position with four points each.
