New Delhi, Oct 30: After a five-hour gruelling battle, 11th seed Woman Grandmaster Priyanka Nuttaki shocked top seed and former Asian women’s champion Tania Sachdev, while Saina Salonika downed fourth seed and 2016 edition winner Bhakti Kulkarni in the fourth round of the Asian Continental Women’s Chess Championship, at Leela Ambience Convention Hotel here.
In the Open section, top seed R. Praggnanandhaa defeated IM Pranav Anand to join overnight sole leader Leon Luke Mendonca and four others on the leaderboard. Pragganandhaa and Mendonca now have the company of compatriot Karthikeyan Murali, Harsha Bharathakoti, Turkmenistan GM Maksat Atabayev and IM Koustav Chatterjee, who are sharing the lead with three-and-a-half points.
Mendonca held second seed Narayanan SL, while Karthikeyan Murali outwitted Aditya Mittal in a fine crafted play with a pair of bishops. Harsha Bharthakoti capitalised on crucial errors made by his Indian GM rival Sandipan Chanda. (IANS)
