Seven in joint lead at Gurgaon chess

Gurgaon: Seven players, including India's Sahaj Grover and top seed Ukrainian Kravtsiv Martyn, shared the lead with 6.5 points each after the eighth round of the Gurgaon International Grandmasters Chess tournament, here today.

With two rounds remaining, the tournament is heading for a close finish.

In the eighth round, most of the top board battles ended without decisive results. Martyn signed a peace treaty with Grandmaster Tornike Sanikidze of Georgia while Russian GM Evdokimov Alexander and Grover settled for half point against International Master Prasanna Rao and second seed Oliver Barbosa of the Philipppines, respectively.

These results helped IMs Vikramaditya Kulkarni and Swayams Mishra to catch up with overnight leaders as they outwitted GM S Kidamabi and IM Shivananda B S.

A pack of 15 players, including Barbosa, are now sharing the joint second spot with six points.