Anurag holds International Master to a draw

State Champion Anurag Mhamal (ELO 2092) managed to
hold reputed International Master M. Shyam Sundar (ELO 2241)
of Tamil Nadu to a 25 move draw in the crucial ninth round of the National
Sub junior Championships being played in Chennai.

Shyam Sundar had tied for first place in the Asian Junior
Championship in New Delhi last year and this was going to be
a tough battle for Anurag. In a French Defence opening,
12 year old Anurag actually managed to get a slight
positional edge as his opponent had an isolated Queen pawn.
However, that did not seem to be enough and the players agreed
for a draw through a repetition of moves.

IM S.P. Sethuraman (ELO 2427) of Tamil Nadu leads with 8 points
after he defeated statemate FM K. Priyadarshan (ELO 2298).
He is followed by International Master B. Adhiban (ELO 2422)
and R. Ramnath Bhuvanesh (ELO 2115) also of Tamil Nadu
and Antonio Viani D' Cunha (ELO 1988) of Karnataka
who are on 7 points each.

Anurag is in joint 5th position with a bunch of other players.
Two more rounds remain in this event and he will have to win both
to stand in the first five who will have a chance to represent
India in the World Under 16 Olympiad next year.

In the Girls section, A. Niji (ELO 1925) took over the sole lead with
7.5 points. Top seed WFM Pon. N. Krithika (ELO 2140) was shocked by
Tamil Nadu state mate R. Bharathi (ELO 2017) in a Caro Kann Opening.

Shyam Sundar M (2241) - Anurag Mhamal (2092) [C10]
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Be7 6.Bd3 Ngf6 7.Nxf6+
Bxf6 8.0-0 0-0 9.Re1 c5 10.c3 cxd4 11.cxd4 Nb6 12.Qc2 g6 13.Bh6 Re8
14.Rad1 Nd5 15.a3 b6 16.Ne5 Bb7 17.Be4 Bg5 18.Bxg5 Qxg5 19.Rd3 Rac8
20.Qd1 Re7 21.Rg3 Qh6 22.Rh3 Qg5 23.Rg3 Qh6 24.Rh3 Qg5 25.Rg3 1/2-1/2