VALSAD: Cautious but quick draws on the three leading boards reflected the defensive mindset of the front-runners but the sense of urgency was apparent among those on the lower boards in the sixth round of the Atul National `A' chess championship here on Friday.

Leaders remained unchanged as Pravin Thipsay and Surya Shekhar Ganguly tested each other for just 16 moves before signing peace on the top board.

None other could match their tally of 4.5 points after the next three boards also saw indecisive battles. If Deepan Chakkravarthy and Dibyendu Barua drew in 22 moves, S. Arun Prasad and G.N. Gopal took seven moves less for a similar result.

Diwakar Prasad Singh, seeded three, continued his recovery act by posting his second successive victory.

Sengupta blunders

Down a pawn, Diwakar benefited from a blunder by Deep Sengupta who overlooked the loss of a rook for a bishop and resigned in 39 moves.

GM Abhijit Kunte's search for victory over namesake and National junior champion Abhijeet Gupta proved futile in 65 moves. The draw helped Abhijeet maintain his undefeated streak after facing five titled players including three GMs.

For a change, 10 out of the last 11 boards produced decisive verdicts.

Woman Grandmaster D. Harika ended her streak of draws with a victory over veteran N. Sudhakar Babu.

However, two other WGMs Swati Ghate and Eesha Karavade lost. Eesha turned down a draw-offer on the 36th move from G. Rohit and resigned after 70 moves. Swati surrendered to Somak Palit in 42 moves.

Struggling GMs R.B. Ramesh and Tejas Bakre along with International Masters, M.R. Venkatesh, Lanka Ravi, G.B. Prakash and P.D.S. Girinath were among the winners.

The results (sixth round): Pravin Thipsay (4.5) drew with Surya Shekhar Ganguly (4.5); Deepan Chakkravarthy (4) drew with Dibyendu Barua (4); S. Arun Prasad (4) drew with G.N. Gopal (4); Abhijit Kunte (4) drew with Abhijeet Gupta (4); Diwakar Prasad Singh (4) bt Deep Sengupta (3); M.R. Venkatesh (4) bt Himanshu Sharma (3); Lanka Ravi (4) bt S. Kidambi (3); Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury (3.5) drew with Valay Parikh (3.5); K. Ratnakaran (3.5) drew with P. Konguvel (3.5); Vikramaditya Kamble (3) drew with Neelotpal Das (3); S. Poobesh Anand (3) drew with Prathamesh Mokal (3); G. Rohit (3.5) bt Eesha Karavade (2.5); Swati Ghate (2.5) lost to Somak Palit (3.5); Suvrajit Saha (3.5) bt Swapnil Dhopade (2.5); D. Harika (3.5) bt N. Sudhakar Babu (2.5); R.B. Ramesh (3) bt Roktim Bandyopadhyay (2); Tejas Bakre (3) bt Varugeese Koshy (2); V. Saravanan (2.5) drew with T.S. Ravi (2.5); Sudhir Sinha (2) lost to P.D.S. Girinath (3); G.B. Prakash (2.5) bt R.R. Laxman (2); Abhishek Das (1.5) lost to B.T. Muralidharan (2.5); Ashwin Jayaram (2.5) bt Syed Anwar Shazuli (1.5); M.S. Thej Kumar (2) bye.

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