Deepan maintains lead, Diwakar Prasad stuns Koneru Humpy

Visakhapatnam, Apr 13 (UNI) Grandmaster Elect Deepan Chakkravarthy drew his 14th game but maintained his lead, while Diwakar Prasad Singh stunned local favourite Koneru Humpy in the 43rd National 'A' Chess Championship here today.

Tamil Nadu player Deepan (10.5 points) held the advantage right through his game against Argyadip Das of Railways, but had to settle for a draw.

Meanwhile, defending champion Grandmaster Surya Sekhar Ganguly of Indian Oil Corporation also split points with Sandipan Chanda of ONGC to hold on to second spot with 10 points, though he has an extra game on hand, as Deepan is yet have his bye.

In the biggest upset of the day, Jharkhand rookie player Diwakar Prasad Singh had to sweat out till 60 moves to down higher-rated Grandmaster Humpy, but the two shared the third spot with 9.5 points.

In other men's round game, Internatioanl Master M R Venkatesh of BPCL scored a fine win against compatriot International Master Sundararajan Kidambi.

In women's section, WGM Swathi Ghate (9.5) maintained her lead over Mary Ann Gomes (9.0), as both won their games comfortably against Supriya Maji and Nimmi George respectively.

As the event wores on, all WGMs are finding their touch as WGM Aarthie scored a dashing 21 move victory over J E Kavitha, while Mary Ann Gomes is having a dream run in the tourney as she made her maiden Woman Grandmaster Norm yesterday and is well in line for an Olympic spot.

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