The top-board clash between Ganguly and Aronyak ended in a quiet draw.
| Photo Credit: Shashi Shekhar Kashyap
Seven straight wins, followed by three straight draws! Still, Surya Shekhar Ganguly is in the sole lead position going into the final round of the National chess championship.
After drawing with Aronyak Ghosh in the 10th round at the RPS International School, he is on 8.5 points. His younger rival was the only one who could have caught up with him at the top. But Aronyak needed to win against Ganguly, something none has managed here.
The top-board clash between the two Kolkatans ended in a quiet draw in 30 moves after Aronyak adopted Slav Defence. Only the two kings, and pawns — seven of them on either side — remained when the peace treaty was signed.
Important results (10th round): Surya Shekhar Ganguly (PSPB) 8.5 drew with Aronyak Ghosh (RSPB) 8; S.P. Sethuraman (PSPB) 7 lost to Neelash Saha (RSPB) 8; P. Shyaam Nikhil (RSPB) 7.5 Diptayan Ghosh (RSPB) 7.5;
Karthik Venkataraman (AP) 8 bt Ajay Karthikeyan (TN) 7; Sammed Shete (Mah) 7.5 drew with Mitrabha Guha (RSPB) 7.5; Himal Gusain (RSPB) 8 bt Uktal Sahoo (Odi) 7; S. Nitin (RSPB) 7 lost to M.R. Lalith Babu (AP) 8; N.R. Vignesh (RSPB) 7.5 bt Sriram Jha (LIC) 7; Neelotpal Das (PSPB) 6.5 lost to Abhijeet Gupta (PSPB) 7.5;
Sankalp Gupta (Mah) 7.5 bt R.R. Laxman (RSPB) 6.5; N.R. Visakh (RSPBH) 7.5 bt Nihal Swarna .5;
Vignesh Advaith Vemula (TS) 6 drew with Sayantan Das (RSPB) 6; Swapnil Dhopade (Mah) 7.5 bt A. Balkishan (Kar) 6.5; Dinesh Kumar Jaganathan (TN) 7 drew with J. Deepan Chakravarthy (RSPB) 7; Arjun Adireddy (TS) 7 drew with S. Ravi Teja (AP) 7.
