Laxman, who also played three IMs, will meet a strong player in the next round and the result then does not matter.In the Kings Indan Saemisch, Laxman got better after his dynamic 21.f5 which paralysed black's Kingside. Florian landed in time pressure and got into a mess soon. Bymove 41, Laxman threatened to win a piece or run through black's position.India's K Sasikiran, Harikrishna, Beenish Bhatia and Vikramaditya Kamble were successful in the eighth round. Sasikiran, after six rounds, pocketed a full point against 41st seed Janz Freric of Germany in 30 moves. Harikrishna was also lucky to get the point from 22nd seed Herraiz Herminio of Spain in 44 moves of Pirc Defence. Harikrishna has five points and can look for an IM norm tomorrow while Sasikiran has 4.5 points.Satyapragyan and Dervishi Erald of Albania drew in 28 moves of Sicilian Scheveningen, Beenish beat Blaz Kosmac of Slovenia in just 13 moves of Richter-Rauzer after winning a piece and Kamble overcame Dovramadjiev of Bulgaria in 27 moves of Kings Indian Attack. Kidambi held English IM Houska to a draw.Hoang extends leadHoang Thanh Trang (7 points) inflicted the first defeat on Ruth Sheldon in the girls section. The Vietnamese extended her lead to one point as top seed Monika Bobrowska , who was involved in a draw withHungarian Lakos Nikoletta, was joined by teammate Iweta Radziewicz in the second spot, with 6 points.Swati Ghate and Koneru Humpy were the stars for India. Swati shocked third seed WGM Joanna Dworakowska, while 11-year-old Humpy overcame US champion and seventh seed Irina Krush in a drawish ending. Humpy is now the leading player for India, with 5.5 points.Swati went for the hyper-aggressive English Attack in the Sicilian Najdorf and started pushing her King-side pawns. Joanna, who had kept the king in the centre, suddenly went for the `suicidal' King-side castling. It was a blessing in disguise for Swati who attacked relentlessly. Her powerful 25th move Ne6 should have won her the day, but Swati got a little bit excited and nearly paid the price. Fortunately, for Swati, out of sorts, Dworakowska blundered on the 30th move and resigned on the 34th move. Humpy's sound temperament and calm play enabled her to upset Irina Krush, who went wrong in the rooks and opposite bishop ending.Vijayalakshmi stopped upbeatSwati Mohota. Aarthie Ramaswamy and Meenakshi posted victories. Pallavi Shah's drawing sequence ended when she lost to Chinese Xu Yuan Yuan.RESULTS (8th round)

:Sadvakasov (Kaz) 7 drew with Fedorchuk (Ukr) 6; Fressinet (France) 6 drew with Banikas H (Greece) 6; Laxman (Ind) 6 bt Jenni Florian (Sui) 5; Dao Thien Hai (Viet) 5 drew with Azer Mirzoev (Azer) 5; M.Kobalia (Rus) 5 drew with B. Pawel (Pol) 5; Igor Nataf (Fra) 4.5 lost to Halkias Stelios (Gree) 5.5; Ippolito Dean (US) 4.5 lost to Zhang Zhong (China) 5.5; A.Florean (Rom) 5 drew with A.Rasim (Aze) 5; Turzo attila (Hun) 5 bt Roghani Arash (Iran) 4; Sandeepan Chanda (Ind) 4.5 drew with Neelotpal Das (Ind) 4.5; Miroslav Houska (Eng) 4 drew with S.Kidambi (Ind) 4; Ramu (Ind) 4 bt Bojan Medak (Cro) 3; Dabelo Ronald (Phi) 3.5 drew with Kherdekar (Ind) 3; Uberooi (Ind) 3 drew with Radovanovic (Yug) 3; Dervishi Erald (Alb) 4.5 drew with Satyapragyan (Ind) 4.5; Harraiz Herminio (Esp) 4 lost to Harikrishna (Ind) 5; Sasikiran (Ind) 4.5 bt Janz Frerik(Ger) 3.5.