India's International Master Siddharth Ravichandran continued his good form by holding the top seed, GM Mchedlishvili Mikheil of Georgia, to a draw in the 9th round of the 6th Mumbai Mayor International Chess Tournament at the NSCI Stadium here today.
Ravichandran (ELO 2361) faced a Sicilian defence, for which he opted for closed variation against his rival who is ranked the top seed in the Rs 21.5-lakh prize money event with an ELO of 2645.
Pieces were traded at regular intervals and the game ended in tame draw after 37 moves.
Also catching attention was untitled Sameer Kathmale, who narrowly missed his chance of earning his maiden Grandmaster norm, but pitted against GM Andriasian Zaven (ELO 2608) of Armenia, he fought hard and ended on the losing side in the game of French Defence, but it, however, helped him make his IM norm.
Kathmale, playing with white, opted for the Tarrasch Variation against GM Zaven and on the 19th move created an opposite colour bishop ending. But, the Armenian used all his experience to convert this ending, which seemed headed to a draw, into a win.
There was more cheer for Indian players as IM V A V Rajesh (ELO 2343) and Swayansh Mishra defeated GM M Vadim (ELO 2552) of Belarus and GM Hossain Enamul (ELO 2487) of Bangladesh respectively.
GM Pantsulaia Levan (ELO 2563) of Georgia defeated GM Zubarev Alexander (ELO 2559) of Ukraine in 58 moves to take the sole lead 7.5 points.
The results: IM Ravichandran Siddharth 6.5 drew with GM Mchedlishvili Mikheil 7, GM Pantsulaia Levan (2563) 7.5 bt GM Zubarev Alexander 7, GM Amonatov Farrukh 7 bt GM Papin Vasily 6, Kathmale Sameer 6 lost to GM Andriasian Zaven 7, GM Babujian Levon 7 bt GM Petrosian Davit G 6, GM Gagunashvili Merab 6.5 bt IM Karthikeyan Murali 5.5, IM Rajesh V A V 6.5 bt GM Malakhatko Vadim 5.5, GM Timoshenko Georgy 6.5 bt GM Laxman R R 5.5; GM Akshayraj Kore 6.5 bt IM Ankit R Rajpara 5.5; IM Swayams Mishra 6.5 bt GM Hossain Enamul 5.
