Shyam Sundar, Ram S Krishnan, Gopalakrishna share lead

Chennai, July 26 (UNI) Tamil Nadu's M Shyam Sundar, Ram S Krishnan, a former State and Under-25 Champion and seasoned K Gopalakrishna with four points each from four rounds, shared the lead in the First Saranya FIDE Rated Open Chess Tournament here today.

Close behind the three joint leaders with 3.5 points were IM norm holder C Praveen Kumar, FIDE Master K V Shantharam, R A Pradeep Kumar and P Phoobalan.

In the third round which concluded earlier late last evening, top seed Praveen Kumar faced little resistance from E R S Sarathy in the French Tarrasch and whereas the second seed Shyam Sundar outplayed Sri Harsha Lingala in 19-move brevity of the Closed Sicilian.

However, in the fourth round this morning, Praveen Kumar was held to a creditable 29-move draw by R A Pradeep Kumar in a much analysed Samisch attack of the Kings Indian defence .

On the other hand, young school student and the second seed Shyam Sundar playing black pieces scored over N Surendran in a queen-pawn opening lasting 49 moves.

Chennai's consistent players Ram S Krishnan and K Gopalakrishna both playing black pieces accounted for H Ganapapathy Krishnan and Vinoth Kumar respectively in the Double Fianchetto and Closed Sicilian.

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