Sulskis maintains lead after 10th round

Sarunas Sulskis of Lithuania maintained a solitary point lead after the penultimate round in the 13th Goodricke International Open chess tournament in Kolkata on Tuesday.

Playing with white pieces against Esham Ghaem Maghami of Iran, Sulskis accepted the draw offer after just ten moves to stay at the top with just one more round left in the tournament.

Sulskis, with eight points, now requires just a draw in the final round on Wednesday to clinch the coveted title.

Sulskis's nearest rival, Krishnan Sasikiran also drew his game with Drazen Sermek of Slovenia in 14 moves in a Guico Piano opening.

With this draw, Sasikiran's tally went up to seven points and has a good chance of finishing second.

Tejas Bakre drew with Joerg Blauert of Germany in 19 moves in a Sicilian defence. The game between the two brothers G B Prakash and R B Ramesh also ended in a quick draw. Both players have five points each.