K Haridas of Tamil Nadu squandered a chance to emerge the sole leader as he was held by the unrated Jose P Mathew of Kerala in the ninth round. Haridas was in the second position with seven points.

Abdul Majeed played the Queen's Gambit while Anil Babu of Kerala chose the Orthodox defence. Majeed's offer for a sacrifice of bishop of white squares was rejected by Babu. But in the middlegame, Majeed put his rival on the defensive after the exchange of Queens. Babu quit after 32 moves.

Bindu who won seven consecutive games after the first round loss, was held by England's Paul Brown. ``This is the first time in the tournament that I haven't lost while playing black,'' said Brown who was disappointed though, at not being able to defeatBindu.

The LIC Fide Woman Master started off with the Queen Pawn opening and was in command when her pieces had a precious chance to storm the rival territory after Brown played an erroneous rook push in the 14th move. But Brown managed to defend well as Bindu fumbled in the middlegame. Brown was also a pawn up in the endgame, but could not force a win. The players agreed to a draw after 55 moves.

Results (9th round): M Rangarajan 4.5 drew K Abhimod 3.5, K Ratnakaran 5.5 bt Rahul Sangma 3.5, Jose P Mathew 3.5 drew K Haridas 7, Bindu Saritha 7.5 drew Paul Brown 5, T K Joseph 6.5 bt K R Madhusoodanan 5, M K Basheer 2 lost S F Shiva 1.5, N Abdul Majeed 7.5 bt Anil Babu 0.5.