National champion Sasikiran (4) chose the Kings Indian Defence but IM Rufat Bagirov of Azerbijan countered with the positional fianchetto variation to inflict a crushing defeat.

Kunte (4) went down fighting to GM Milos Pavlovic of Yugoslavia, and with just four rounds remaining, his hopes of final GM norm and title have faded.

Top seed GM Vadim Milov (6) of Switzerland shot into sole lead by trouncing GM Sergei Volkov (5) of Russia. The Swiss GM is closely followed by Russian GM Rashkovsky and Israel's Gruenfeld, both with 5.5 points apiece.

IM Bagirov (5) played a tactical game to outwit Sasikiran after gaining space advantage in the middle game by planting his knight on d5 square.

In a desperate bid to wriggle out from the cramped position, Sasikiran gave up an exchange, butBagirov returned the material and trapped the Indian's Queen to clinch the issue.

Playing with white against Kunte, Pavlovic (5) started aggressively in the Sicilian Scheveningen opening to score a convincing victory against Kunte.

The Indian double-GM norm holder was forced to give his rook for Pavlovic's knight to ward off a mating attack, but the Yugoslavian conducted the King side attack precisely to pocket the point with a neat rook sacrifice.

Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay (4), who had slumped to defeat in the sixth round, bounced back with a facile win by accounting for Oliver Koeller of Germany.

Koeller chose the Centre Counter opening but played passively, which allowed a lasting advantage for Thipsay. The Indian won a pawn on the queen side and traded pieces to reach a winning bishop vs knight ending. The rest was the matter of technique.

DV Prasad reached 3.5 points by scoring a fine victory against Loetscher of Switzerland. Prasad opted for the Modern Benoni defence and launched a vigorousKingside onslaught which resulted in an exchange.

Prasad later converted the material advantage in his favour to win in 28 moves.

IM V Saravanan (3.5) was held to a draw by Ermini of Switzerland. Saravanan had the upper hand in the middle game but faltered in time pressure and allowed Ermeni to equalise.

IWM Anupama Gokhale lost to Wolfgan Haist of Germany to remain at 2.5 points. Junior national champion S Kidambi fought a marathon battle of 120 moves to salvage a draw against Yugoslavian IM Pikula Dejan.

Important Results

Milov (6) beat Volkov (5); Rashkovsky (3.5) drew Grisschuk (5); Shariazhdhanov (5) drew Chermev (5); Tyomking (5) drew Nataf (5); Raemsky (5) drew Tukmakov (5); Bagirov (5) beat Sasikiran (4); Pavlovic (5) beat Kunte (4); Thipsay (4) beat Koeller (3) Loetscher (2.5) lost to Prasad (3.5); Saravanan (3.5) drew Ermeni (3.5); Kidambi (4) drew Dejan (4); Anupana (2.5) lost to Mast (3.5).