Grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguly did not let the gruel of playing two rounds in a day affect him as he outplayed Mastrovasilis Dmitros of Greece to jump into sole lead after the third round in the World Junior chess championship in Azerbaijan.
Five players follow Ganguly (3 points) on 2.5 points apiece. They are P Magesh Chandran, Alexander Zubov of Ukraine, Marcin Dziuba of Poland, Kritz Leonid of Germany and Rustem Sadykov of Kazakhstan.
In the girls' championship, the country's youngest woman International Master Dronavalli Harika continued with her winning ways and was in joint lead with four others with a cent percent score after the second round.
Harika defeated Martina Valickova of the Czech Republic in the second round.
Asian junior champion Tania Sachdev moved to joint sixth position on 1.5 points after bouncing back with a win over Margiz Unudova of Azerbaijan. Tania had drawn her first game.
Ganguly attacked aggressively and was justly rewarded. Playing white, the bronze medallist of the previous edition faced the Sicilian Taimanov by Mastrovasilis. An exponent of the opening himself, Ganguly was in for a surprise in the middle game as Mastrovasilis kept his king in the center and pushed his king bishop pawn that left irreparable weaknesses in his position.
Going for the kill on the 27th move, Ganguly ripped apart black's defences and forced resignation five moves later.
Earlier in the second round, International Master P Magesh Chandran stole the limelight with a thumping victory over top seed Grandmaster Shahriyaz Mamdyarov of Azerbaijan.
National junior champion Abhijit Gupta was the other Indian to taste success as he scalped fourth seed compatriot Grandmaster Pendyala Harikrishna in his second round game.
Magesh Chandran displayed his superlative form in beating Mamedyarov. Playing white, the Indian opened with his favourite King pawn and was up against a razor sharp variation of the Sicilian Sveshnikov.
Gaining slight advantage in the middle game, Magesh dismantled black's pawn strucuture in the center with a thematic blow and lured Mamedyarov into a piece sacrifice that gave only an optical attack against the king.
In the end Mamedyarov was left panting as he lost his queen for a rook and never recovered.
Unassuming Abhijit Gupta was a picture of confidence as he matched the dangerous Harikrishna move for move in a keenly-contested game.
Starting with white, Harikrishna faced the Bogo Indian defence by Abhijit and managed to obtain a little advantage with his copybook manoeuvres in the ensuing middle game.
However, Abhijit held on to his own and subsequent exchanges led the position to almost a level situation where Harikrishna became over ambitious and opened the kingside.
Abhijit caught Harikrishna unawares in a tactical sortie that started with a knight march in the center. Harikrishna called it a day when he was forced to part with decisive material.
Important results (Indians unless specified):
Round II (boys): S S Ganguly (3) beat Dimitros Mastrovasilis (2, Gre); Alexander Zubov (2.5, Ukr) P Magesh Chandran (2.5); Marcin Dziuba (2.5, Pol) drew Kritz Leonid (2.5, Ger); Izoria ad (2, Geo) drew Rustem Sadykov (2.5, Kaz); Steven Geinaert (2, Bel) drew Vugar Gashimov (1.5, Aze); Abhijit Gupta (2) drew Dmitry Schneider (1.5, USA); Deepan Chakravarthy (2) beat S Arun Prasad (1); Kozak Leonid (2, Uzb) beat G. Rohit (1); Agaragimov (0.5, Aze) lost to P Harikrishna (1.5).
Round II (girls): Sergeeva Maria (2, Kaz) beat Eesha Karvade (1); Martina Valickova (1, Cze) lost to D Harika (2); Tania Sachdev (1.5) beat Margiz Unudova (0.5, Aze); Mamedjarova (0.5, Aze) drew Saheli Nath (0.5); Mahima Rajmohan (1) beat Afag Khudaverdieva (Aze); Meihraban Shukurova (1, Aze) lost to Nana Dzagnidze (2, Geo); Nargiz Mammadova (1, Aze) lost to Cristinaa Calotescu (2, Rom).