Gopal maintains lead despite draw with Rohit

New Delhi, Nov 11 (UNI) Double IM norm holder G N Gopal's winning spree finally came to an end but the fifth round draw with G Rohit was good enough for him to maintain a slender half point lead in the Asian Junior and Girls Under-20 chess championship here today.

Gopal was in fact lucky in salvaging the half point against Rohit after struggling a bit early in the game. Playing with black, Rohit's Sicilian Najdorf ploy almost paid off and he had a clear edge over Gopal after winning an exchange.

However, as the game progressed, Rohit could not maintain the tempo and allowed a tactical sortie leading to an evenly balanced endgame.

With this draw, Gopal inched up to 4.5 points out of a possible five and is now followed by five players including GM Nguyen Ngoc Truongson of Vietnam.

In the girls' championship being organised simultaneously, four players -- Hoang Thi Bao Tram of Vietnam, Kruttika Nadig, Kiran Manisha Mohanty and Soumya Swaminathan -- maintained joint lead after drawing their fifth round games. All leaders have four points apiece.

The event is played under FIDE's Swiss rules and there are nine rounds in all. The championship selects the best Asian boy and girl under-20 years of age.

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