Sahu shocks top seed Neelotpal Das;leads field with 16 others

Mumbai, Apr 23 (UNI) Veteran International master Sekhar Sahu (3) caused the biggest upset of the day when he beat top seed and GM elect Neelotpal Das (2) in the third round of the Thakur International Rating chess tournament being played here today.

The tournament organised by the Venus Chess Academy and co-sponsored by MTNL and Eurokids has 17 players including nine International Masters leading the field in the Rs four lakh prize money tourney.

Shau's Ritcher attack left Neelotpal's King stranded in the centre in Sicilian defence. Neelotpal was helpless against the white queen and had to take his king on the queenside. Sahu kept on the pressure and won the game in 44 moves.

Teenagers Akshant Khamparia and P Shyam Nikhil played well and held higher rated International Masters G B Prakash and Sharad Tilak respectively to creditable draws. All four have 2.5 points after three rounds.

In another surprising result veteran Arun Pandit (3) shocked International Master Anup Deshmukh.

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