By IANS
Hastings (Britain) : Swayangs Satyapragyan did not miss the opportunity to score a full point against his lower rated opponent Simon Knott and stayed within striking distance of the leaders at the end of seven rounds in Hastings Congress Chess tournament here.
Satyapragyan (2404) outplayed Knott (2366) and took his tally to five points, half a point behind the leaders, whose number dwindled from 10 to three in just one round.
Also winning his seventh round was Deep Sengupta, who beat Mark Huizer and took his tally to 4.5 points. The third Indian in the field, Saptarishi Roy Chowdhury, was held to a draw by Peter Marusenko.
Vadim Malakhatko of Russia, who beat Bogdan Lalic, shares the lead with Nidjat Mamedov and Simon Williams of England. Mamedov beat Andrew Greet and Williams beat Valeriy Neverov.
In the eighth round, Satyapragyan is up against a much higher rated opponent Bor Chatalbashev (2581), while Sengupta (2447) is also pitted against a higher rated player, Milos Pavlovic (2536). Roy Chowdhury (2418) has an easy opponent, John Sugden (2116), who however is in good form.