TN’s Sailesh a draw away from title

Nagpur: Tamil Nadu’s second seed Sailesh R maintained his dominance in the 19th GH Raisoni Chess Festival on Thursday. The 21-year-old won both the rounds on the penultimate day of the classical tournament and is just a draw away from winning the title.

With 9.5 points in his kitty from 10 rounds, Sailesh is leading the pack by a margin of one full point. Kishan Kumar of Bihar is following Sailesh in the second position, collecting 8.5 points.

In the 10th and penultimate round, Sailesh defeated Nagpur’s Prerak Darvekar on the top board, while city youngster Swaraj Mishra lost to Kishan on the second table. As many as six players, including Nagpur’s Prerak and Ameya Godbole, are sharing the third spot with eight points each.

RESULTS (Round 10)

Prerak Darvekar (8) lost to Sailesh R (9.5), Swaraj Mishra (7.5) lost to Kishan Kumar (8.5), Ameya Godbole (8) bt Shaon Chowdhury (7), Rehant Koche (7) lost to Rupam Mukherjee (8), Pradeep Tiwari (8) bt Nilay Kulkarni (7).