Singh, Laxman emerge jt leaders

Kozhikode, Sep 20 (UNI) Top seed D P Singh of Jharkhand and R R Laxman of Tamil Nadu emerged joint leaders with five points each after the fifth round of the Calicut International FIDE- rated Open Chess Championship here today.

Continuing his winning spree, Singh defeated G N Gopal of Kerala while Laxman outplayed K Ratnakaran of the Southern Railways in a close contest.

Results: (Fifth round) G N Gopal 4 (Ker) lost to D P Singh 5 (Jhar), Ratnakaran 3.5 (SR) lost to RR Laxman 5 (TN), K Haridas 4 (TN) drew with Muraleedharan MB 4 (Ker), T Gautam 3.5 (AP) lost to Ram S Krishnan 4.5 (TN), G S Sreejith 3 (Ker) lost to O T Anil Kumar 4 (Ker), M Vinod Kumar 3 (Ker) lost to K Narayanan 4 (Ker), M P Ajit 3 (Kar) lost to Nirmal E P 4 (Ker), U C Mohanan 4 (Ker) bt Langala Sriharsha 3 (AP), Bijoy Kumar 3.5 (Bih) drew with S Nitin 3.5 (TN), P V Gireesh 3.5 (Ker) drew with P S Ameer 3.5 (Ker).

UNI PCH VV DH PM2031