Rajesh jumps to sole lead, inches closer to Fide title

NAGPUR: International Master VAV Rajesh, who has already pocketed blitz chess crown, eyeing another title by emerging sole leader with 7.5 points at the end of eighth round in the GH Raisoni Memorial Open FIDE Rating Chess tournament, organized by Parents' Chess Association, at the Ambedkar College Hall on Saturday.
Nagpur's Fide Master Saurabh Khherdekar, Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad, Chakravarthi Reddy and FM Ramakrishna are following Rajesh closely with seven points each to their credit.
Overnight joint leader Rajesh (AAI) shocked top seed and Grandmaster Sriram Jha in 35 moves to maintain his unbeaten streak. Chandra Prasad notched up crucial win over overnight joint leader SV Srinath Rao.
Chakravarthu Reddy outclassed city's Shailesh Dravid in 31 moves. FM Saurabh Khherdekar, an employee of Railways, defeated Pawan Dodeja of Maharashtra in a marathon encounter which lasted for 66 moves. FM Ramakrishna downed Sankasrh Shelke, whereas Bala Kannamma settled for a draw with Akash Thakur.
Rajesh will have to win or draw his last round match to emerge champion. With so many players following closely behind Rajesh the last day promises to be an exciting day.
The last round of the tournament will be played on Sunday from 9.30 am. onwards followed by prize distribution function.
Meanwhile, in-form Rajesh reigned supreme in the Blitz National Chess tournament here on Saturday.
Both Rajesh (Airports Authority of India) and Dhananjay (Chhattisgarh) notched up eight points each but on the basis of tie-breaker, Rajesh was declared champion. City's Saurabh Khherdekar finished third.
In the last round on top board, Rajesh outwitted Sameer Shete. Dhananjay recorded victory over Sankalp Gupta.
RESULTS (Round 8): VAV Rajesh (7.5) bt Sriram Jha (6), Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad (7) bt SV Srinath Rao (6.5), Chakravarthi Reddy (7) bt Shailesh Dravid (6), Dodeja Pawan (6) lost to Saurabh Khherdekar (7), J Ramakrishna (7) bt Sankarsha Shelke (6), Bala Kannamma (6) drew with Akash Thakur (6), Muthaiah Alh (6.5) bt Singh Aditya (5.5), Purushothaman Thirumalai (6) drew with Akash PC Iyer (6), Mahindrakar Indrajeet (6.5) bt Bharambe Bhavik (5.5), Susobhit Das (6) drew with J Saranya (6), Ashutosh Dalal (5.5) lost to YVK Chakravarthy (6.5), Sammed Jaykumar Shete (6) bt Om Vitalkar (5), Dhananjay (6) bt Aditya Guhagarkar (5), M Vinoth Kumar (6) bt Sachin Malik (5), Mani Bharathy (6) drew with Sankalp Gupta (6).