It was a Sicilian defense by Karthikeyan as black and Daneshvar employed the Alapin variation. The opening does not enjoy a great following at top level chess but Karthikeyan felt the heat in the middle game as Daneshvar got more active pieces.
After the dust settled, Karthikeyan was down a pawn in the rook ending and lost in 49 moves.
Ivan Zemlyanskii of Russia emerged as the sole occupant of the second spot defeating Jiang Haochen of China. It was a long drawn affair wherein the Russian dominated the endgame and took his tally to five points.
Karthikeyan slipped to joint third spot on 4.5 points and giving him company is M Pranesh who drew with Russian Sergei Lobanov.
In the women’s section, highest rated Indian Vantika Agrawal made another stride forward at the expense of Afruza Khamdamova of Uzbekistan. Vantika took her tally to 5 points out of a possible six and there is a good chance that she will find herself at the top of the tables.
P V Nandhidhaa also reached five points defeating Tokhirjonova Gulrukhbegum of Uzbekistan.
Overnight leaders Srija Seshadri and Russian Anastasia Bodnaruk were locked in a battle of wits after nearly 5.5 hours of play. Three rounds still remain to be played and it looks like an open field.
Important and Indian results round 6 open (Indians unless specified): Bardiya Daneshvar (Iri, 5.5) beat Murali Karthikeyan (4.5); Sergei Lobanov (Fid, 4.5) drew with M Pranesh (4.5); Ivan Zemlyanskii (Fid, 5) beat Jiang Haochen (Chn, 4); Yang Zilong (Chn, 4.5) drew with Amin Tabatabaei (Iri, 4); Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzb, 4) drew with Denis Makhnev (Kaz, 3.5); Leon Luke Mendonca (4) drew with Suyarov Mukhammadzokhid (Uzb, 3.5); Rinat Jumabayev (Kaz, 4) drew with Abhimanyu Puranik (4); P Iniyan (4) drew with Huang Renjie (Chn, 4); G B Harshavardhan (4.5) beat V Karthik (3.5); Aleksey Grebnev (Fid, 4) drew with L R Srihari (4); Pranav Anand (4) drew with Lev Zverev (Fid, 3.5); Meng Yihan (Chn, 3.5) lost to Nihal Sarin (4); A R Ilamparthi (4) beat Idani Pouya (Iri, 3).
Women: Srija Seshadri (4.5) Anastasia Bodnaruk (Fid, 4.5); Mungunzul Bat-Erdene (Mgl, 5) drew with Song Yuxin (Chn, 4.5); Olga Girya (Fid, 4.5) drew with Batkhuyag Munguntuul (Mgl, 4.5); Vantika Agrawal (5) beat Afruza Khamdamova (Uzb, 4); P V Nandhidhaa (5) beat Tokhirjonova Gulrukhbegim (Uzb, 4); Alinasab Mobina (Iri, 3.5) lost to Swati Ghate (4.5); Padmini Rout (4) beat Zarina Nurgaliyeva (Kaz, 3); Rakshitta Ravi (3.5) drew with Melika Mohammadi (Iri, 3); Zhou Shumeng (Chn, 3) lost to B Savitha Shri (4). PTI Cor AH AH AH
