Sasikiran emerges sole leader

Grandmaster K Sasikiran of India emerged sole leader after the third round in the AICF Golden Jubilee International GM open chess championship in Kozhikode on Tuesday.

The Indian defeated Ehsan Maghmi of Iran take his points tally to three.

In the English Opening set up Sasikiran opened up the 'd'line after fixing the pawn on es on 17th move which earned him a full point in the rook and pawn ending.

Top seed Evgeny Vladimirov of Kazakhstan drew with sixth seed Tahir Vakhidov of Uzbekistan in just 9 moves.

The Queen Gambit exchange variation between GM Abhijit Kunte and fourth seed Andrey Shariyazdanov of Russia ended in draw after 51 moves.

It was a fight between the central passer and wing passer. Agression on anyone of the sides might have got a decision.

The fight between GM Pendyala Harikrishna and IM Lanka Ravi ended in a draw after 71 moves when the latter missed a opportunity on 28th move which would have yielded him full point.

World junior girls' champion Koneru Humpy, seeded eighth, defeated Roktim Bandopadhyaya. Earlier, in the second round she had suffered a major setback when she lost to K Visweswaran from Chennai.