Sarvanan's win after 39 moves of a keenly-contested game improved his chances for a Grandmaster norm here.

Thipsay had lost on the opening day to lowly-rated Tajik IM Suhrob Khamdamov.

In other games, Grandmasters Dibyendu Barua (India) and Sergey Zagrebelny (Uzbekistan) agreed to a draw in 25 moves while Mohsen Ghorbani (Iran) shocked GM Mikhail Saltaev to tally two points and share the lead with GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzbekistan) and GM elect Al-Modiahki (Qatar).

Saravanan adopted the closed system against Thipsay's Sicilian defence And the game moved on along quiet strategical lines. Sarvanan opened up the centre and created a weak pawn on d6 and thus established a slight advantage.

However, Thipsay equalised the game with precise moves and even gained a slight advantage after a wrong rook move by Saravanan. But, in timepressure, Thipsay allowed Saravanan to create an attack against his central knight and finally lost on the 39th move when Saravanan's material gain became inevitable.

Barua adopted the quiet Bez system against Zagrebelny's Sicilian Najdorf variation and was faced with the `e5' line. In a well-known position Zagrebelny played the unorthodox sequence of first playing `b6' followed up with `b5' after a few moves to achieve equality. They repeated moves and a draw was agreed on the 25th move.

Important Results

IM Kakageldiev (1) lost to GM Kasimdzhanov (2), GM D Barua (1.5) drew with GM Zagrebelny (1.5), M Ghorbani (2) beat GM M Saltaev (1), IM Al-Modiahki (2) bt Amir Bagheri (1), GM Dao Thien Hai (1.5) bt N de Silva (0.5), V Saravanan (1.5) bt GM PM Thipsay (0).

Sasikiran third

HAMPSTEAD: Teenaged International Master Krishnan Sasikiran, looking for a Grandmaster norm in this category seven event, drew with Larry Kaugman of United States to take third place after the sixth round in theHampstead International Grandmaster Chess tournament here today.

Sasikiran, rated 2470, held the American in 41 moves of a Scotch game to take his tally to four points from two wins and four draws.

Boris Kreiman (2455) and Kim Plaskett (2455) were sharing the top spot with five points each followed by Tiger Hillarp Persson, who has 4.5 points.

Playing with black pieces, Sasikiran replied confidently in the Scotch game. There was no danger from either side and the Indian, who needs 11.5 points from the 15-round, 16-man tournament, signed the truce to maintain his unbeaten run in the tournament.

In the earlier rounds, Sasikiran had beaten Ron Burneet and Dean Ippoloti and drawn against Peter Szekely, Neil McDonald and Angus Dunnington.

In another tournament going on simultaneously, India's Arpi Shah lost in the sixth round to Simon Knott in the IM tournament. Shah, whose only win has been against Paul Gheorhiu in the fifth round, now has one point from six rounds in the 12-player tournament.

RichardPalliser leads the IM tournament with 5.5 points, from one draw and five wins. He is followed closly by Karl Mah (2330) and Simon Knott (2340), both with five points.