International Master Ponnuswamy Konguvel was held to draw by former National junior champion Gurpreetpal Singh of Railways. Both players are locked with 21 others at the second spot with four points each.

Sandipan, who hones his skills at the Goodricke Chess Academy, played a rarely played gambit against Atanu's pet French defence and confused the leader. Sandipan went on attacking the black king till Atanu gave up a pawn, and won the game in 38 moves.

Gurpreetpal had completely outplayed IM Konguvel from the white side of RichterRouser attack. The IM sacrificed a piece to gain some counterplay. However, Singh played into Konguvel's hands and the game was drawn after six hours of play.

Little known H Sharma (4.5) shocked IM-elect Jayant Gokhale (3.5) in Sicilian defence. In a game between the two IMs, V Koshy (PSCB) defeated CS Sahu (BSB). Maharashtra champion Sacchidanand. Soman (4.5) scored a fighting win over Pankaj Joshi (3.5) of Rlys in Colle system.

Important Results (Round 5)

Sandipan Chanda (GNCA) 4.5 bt Atanu Lahiri (LIC) 4; GP Singh (Delhi) 4 drew with P Konguvel (PSCB) 4; S Satyapragyan (Ori) drew with K Murugan (TN) 4; V Koshy (PSCB) 4.5 bt SC Sahu (BSB) 3.5; R Bandhopadhyaya (WB) 4 drew with Vishal Sareen (LIC) 4; C Natarajan (TN) 3.5 lost to SS Ganguly (GNCA) 4.5; DK Sharma (LIC) 4 drew TS Ravi (PSCB) 4; S Kidambi (TN) 4 drew with P Harikrishna (AP) 4; H Sharma (Har) 4.5 bt JS Gokhale (PSCB) 3.5; S Soman (CRSB) 4.5 bt Pankaj joshi (Mah) 3.5; Neelotpal Das (GNCA) 3.5 drew RS Kashelkar (Mah) 4; JV Ramana (AP)3 lost to RB Ramesh (PSCB) 4; Lanka Ravi (PSCB) 4 bt Dipanjan Das (WB) 3; PM Chandran (TN) 4 bt Tejas Bakre (IA) 3; Hariom Sharma (UP) 4 bt Anup Deshmukh (LIC) 3; Sudhakar Babu (BSB) 4 bt Laltu Chatterjee (Rlys) 3.