Abhijeet Gupta takes lead in Pune International Grandmaster

PUNE, July 3: Indian GM Abhijeet Gupta played out a draw in the fourth round but took sole lead in Pune International Grandmaster Round Robin Chess tournament here on Friday.

Gupta was held by Belarus GM Alexei Fedorov.

But Gupta maintained sole lead with three points and is followed by Indian FIDE Master Advik Agarwal and USA's Vaidyanathan Kannan, who both have 2.5 points each.

But Kannan, who held joint lead with the Indian GM ahead of the fourth round, lost out on a chance to maintain his top slot.

Aleksej Aleksandrov of Belarus defeated the 13-year-old Kannan in the fourth round.

In other matches, Indian IM Kushagra Mohan drew with compatriot IM Akshay Borgaonkar, while Sri Lankan IM LMST de Silva also played out a draw with Indian FM Advik.

IM Ashwath S, meanwhile, got the better of IM Nitish Belurkar. (PTI)