Nolte stays in hunt in India

MANILA, Philippines - IM Rolando Nolte pulled off back-to-back victories to gain a share of fourth after eight rounds of the Apollo Engineering College Commonwealth Chess Championships in Chennai, India yesterday.

Nolte beat Candidate Master Prince Bajaj in the seventh round then topped Fide Master Rajesh Vav of India in the eighth to hike his output to 6.5 points, one point behind IM Karthikeyan P of India.

Karthikeyan defeated GM Adly Ahmed of Egypt to grab the solo lead with GM Sergei Tiviakov of the Netherlands and GM Venkatest MR of India in joint second with seven points.