Padmini of Orissa survived a scare against Debarshi Mukherjee who opted for an unusual set up against his illustrious opponent.
Padmini, playing black, was in a clearly inferior position at a critical moment during the game but managed to wriggle out of the situation to win full points.
City-based WGM Mary Ann Gomes was held to a draw by Sumit Kumar, earlier in the 2nd round.
Mary Ann had to be content with a draw as all her attempts to squeeze out a win from the disadvantageous position failed.
Top seed Swapnil Dhopade broke open the kingside of Chandrasish Majumdar as he adopted an aggressive four pawns attack against the latter's King's Indian defence.
Unable to defend against his opponent's kingside onslaught, Chandrasish resigned on the 28th move.
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In the U-16 section, Debangshu Chakraborti, Raunak Mondal and Sohini Ganguly shared the lead with three points each.
Visually impaired Yudhajeet Dey took his tally to two points by beating Shrayan Banerjee in round three.