Sasikiran takes sole lead

Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran took sole lead -- with 11.5 points -- after beating Woman International Master Swati Ghate in the 15th round of the Bharat Petroleum 39th National 'A' chess championship, in Nagpur on Thursday.

Grandmaster Pendyala Harikrishna was forced to second place after drawing with Grandmaster Dibyendu Barua.

The draw left Barua in the third place, with 10.5 points.

International Master S S Ganguly is in fourth place, with 10 points.

In a clash of two GMs vying for the top honour, Barua (white) and Harikrishna played a Sicilian defence. The game reached an ending with double rook and three pawns with Harikrishna, as against double rook and two pawns with Barua.

As all the pawns were on the same side of the board, Harikrishna could not force a win despite his marathon effort of 85 moves when the draw was agreed.

Sasikiran, playing white, opened with his king pawn and faced the Sicilian defence of Ghate.

Playing simple chess and with regular exchanges of pieces, Sasikiran reached an ending with queen, two rooks and five pawns on either side. Sasikiran's queen and rooks were more powerful and he won a pawn on the 29th move and recorded the victory against Swati Ghate on the 44th move.