National Chess Championship : Dhopade, Deepan, Laxman in race

Ahmedabad, Aug 22 (IANS)   In the 55th National Challengers Chess Championship at Karnavati Club Deepan Chakravarthy and R.R. Laxman produced emphatic victories in the penultimate round to stay close with leader Swapnil Dhopade of Railways, on Tuesday.

Playing with black pieces in Sicilian defence, Deepan outsmarted his railway team mate Himanshu Sharma in an attacking game with 32 moves. 

This victory enabled Deepan to move to the second spot in the point-ladder one-point behind leader Swapnil Dhopade.

Playing safe, overnight leader Dhopade settled for the peace treaty with his Odisha opponent Debashis Das in 25 moves and enjoyed a half-point lead over Deepan. 

But the equations could change, if Deepan secures a victory over him in the final round on Wednesday.

In another exciting battle of the day, Grandmaster R.R. Laxman outwitted third seed Lalith Babu to take his tally to nine points. 

Playing with light colour pieces, the Chennai-based ICF man Laxman did not give any breathing space to his rival to seal the victory in 43 moves as he took only 52 minutes on his clock to clinch the encounter. Laxman and Das are now at joint third spot with nine points.

As many as 12 players are at joint fifth place and eyeing for the nine qualification spots for the national premier, scheduled in November at Patna.