Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) led the table in the sixth round in the HCA-sponsored 33rd National Team Chess championship on Sunday.
In the men’s sixth round, top seed PSPB prevailed over Indian Railways ‘A’ 2.5-1.5 to finish at the top. GM Abhijeet Gupta and IM Swapnil Dhopade ended in a draw after 86 moves in the last game of the day while Adhiban and Lalithbabu drew against Arghyadip das and Roy Chowdhury respectively. The lone win came from GM Sethuraman against GM Laxman in 44 moves.
At the end of the 5th round of National Women team chess c’ship, Air India were in sole lead with 10 points. IM Vijayalakshmi won the crucial point for AI by scoring against Soumya Swaminathan of PSPB in 62 moves. Viji surprised Soumya by opting for a rare variation where Queen’s are exchanged early and endgame arises early. Soumya allowed the invasion of black rook on the 30th move which put her into slightly inferior endgame.