Sahaj among three leaders in Gurgaon International chess tournament

After an energy-sapping round in the morning, short draws on the top two boards saw Sahaj Grover remain in the lead with top seed Martyn Kravtsiv and second seed Oliver Barbosa at 5.5 points after six rounds of the Gurgaon Grandmasters International Open chess tournament here on Saturday.

On a double-round day, it was not surprising to find a series of draws in the post-lunch play. Kravtsiv and Barbosa drew in 17 moves that coincided with the number of turns Grover needed to sign peace with third-seeded Russian Alexander Evdokimov.

Earlier, Grover stopped S. Nitin, in an ending involving rook and pawns, to post his fifth successive victory.

Dream run ends

Kravtsiv ended the dream run of untitled Uzbek Ulugbek Tiliyaev and Barbosa overpowered P. Shyamnikhil to complete the three-player leaders’ group.

Young N. Vishakh slowed down fourth-seeded Georgian Merab Gaganashvili’s comeback by forcing a draw.

Two young Indians, Prasanna Rao and N. Srinath, reached five points following their draw on the third board.

Shyamnikhil was back on the winning track by scoring over Akash Iyer.

The results (Indians unless stated):

Sixth round: Martyn Kravtsiv (Ukr, 5.5) drew with Oliver Barbosa (Phi, 5.5); Alexander Evdokimov (Rus, 5.5) drew with Sahaj Grover (5.5); Prasanna Rao (5) drew with N. Srinath (5); John Paul Gomez (Phi, 5) bt Vikramaditya Kulkarni (4.5).

N. Vishakh (4.5) drew with Merab Gagunashvili (Geo, 4.5); C.R.G. Krishna (4) lost to Tornike Sanikidze (Geo, 4); S. Arun Prasad (4.5) drew with Pradeep Kumar (4.5); Akmal Faizulaev (Uzb, 4.5) drew with Eldar Gasanov (Ukr, 4.5); Abhishek Kelkar (4) lost to Swayams Mishra (5); P. Shyamnikhil (5) bt Akash Iyer (4).

Fifth round: Ulugbek Tiliyaev (Uzb) lost to Kravtisv; Barbosa bt Shyamnikhil; Grover bt S. Nitin; Vikramjit Singh lost to Evdokimov; Gomez drew with Visakh; Gasanov drew with Sameer Kathmale; Mishra drew with Krishna; Srinath bt Himal Gusain; V.A.V. Rajesh drew with Faizulaev; Prasanna bt Aniruddha Deshpande; Kulkarni bt Ravi Teja; Gagunashvili bt A. Abhishek.