Lalit Babu beats Duc Hoa, in joint lead after round 5

Mumbai, Jun 21 (PTI) Indian Grandmaster MR Lalit Babu and International Master Arsen Davtyan of Armenia maintained their perfect 5/5 record to share the joint lead after Round 5 of the Aurionpro International GM and Junior Chess tournament here on Saturday.

While Lalit Babu outmanoeuvred GM Nguyen Duc Hoa in a positional grind from the English Opening, Davtyan defeated GM Nikitenko Mihail using the Long Castle Variation in the King’s Indian Defence.

In another interesting match, GM Boris Savchenko held GM Manuel Petrosyan to a draw with a solid Reti Opening. Chasing the leaders are five players on 4.5 points.

FM Aansh Nerurkar maintained his perfect record, defeating AIM Adhiraj Mitra with a precise handling of the Sicilian Najdorf.

Matching him was Madhesh Kumar, who defeated CM Madhvendra Pratap Sharma using the sharp Winawer Variation of the French Defence.

The Junior tournament also saw some fine matches, with top seed and FM Aansh Nerurkar of Mumbai and CM Madhesh sharing the top spot with 5 points after 5 rounds. PTI UNG PDS PDS