The leaders, with 6.5 points each, have a slender edge of half point over a pack of 18 players that include top seed IM's P Konguvel, Verghese Koshy and Andrew Webster of England.

Sharad Tilak played the aggressive Panov attack in response to the Caro-Kann defence of Moti Ram. Black seemed to have come out of the opening with rough equality as the white knight was stranded on the a4 square away from the field of action on the Kingside.

But Tilak, who is an expert in king side attack, generated serious threats against the black king taking advantage of a couple of weak moves of Moti Ram in the middle game. Tilak won in 42 moves with a decisive Kingside attack.

In a game of fluctuating fortunes, the defending champion IM N Sudhakar Babu was heldto a draw by IWM and national women's champion S Vijayalakshmi. Babu with white pieces gained considerable advantage with some imaginative and original opening moves in the queen's Indian defence game.

But, he chose a wrong plan in the middle game allowing Vijayalakshmi to sacrifice her central d-pawn to create counterplay against double rooks ending and was at the verge of winning. Babu put up a stubborn defence and managed a draw thanks to weak end game play by black. Both of them are in the second position with six points each.