FM Sajandas Joshi scored a decisive victory against overnight joint leader, Ketan Patil to jump into the sole lead at the end of the seventh round of the SBI Life Chess Festival of Russia FIDE Rating Chess Tournament in progress here at Cultural Centre of Russia.
Joshi pushing forward from the white side of Nimzowitsch Defense, managed to outwit his close rival to take pole position with 6.5 out of 7 points. If he maintains his form and manages to avoid any slip ups in the remaining two rounds he is well poised to clinch the championship.
Meanwhile, Mumbai University player, Sanjeev Mishra continued his impressive performance and held top-seeded Atul Dahale to a creditable draw. Mishra, unbeaten so far went for the English opening and played some clever moves to gain advantage. However, Dahale initiated exchange of pieces at regular intervals and managed to steer the game to a draw after 64 moves.
Third seeded Amardeep Bartakke scored a crucial win over Pratik Gengaje to occupy the second spot solely with a score of 6/7 and is now pitted against FM Joshi in round 8, which could decide the result of the championship.
A big group of 6 players: Atul Dahale, Ketan Patil, Gopal Rathod, Ajit Kalsekar, Sanjeev Mishra and Tejas Joshi are occupying the third spot with a score of 5.5/7. A thrilling fight is expected in the last two rounds in this one lakh prize money tournament, which is being organized by Indian Chess School and played at Cultural Centre of Russia.
Key Results of Round 7: FM S.G. Joshi S G (6.5) beat Patil Ketan (5.5); Sanjeev Mishra (5.5) drew Atul Dahale (5.5); Gengaje Pratik (5) lost to Bartakke Amardeep S (6); Nilkant Shrey (4.5) lost to Gopal Rathod (5.5); Akshit Jha (4.5) lost to Joshi Tejas (5.5); Kalsekar Ajit (5.5) beat Malay Krishna (4.5); Joglekar Abhijit (5) beat Kuwar Tushar (4).