Kolkata Open: Sengupta, Srinath join Short in three-way lead

Deep Sengupta and Narayanan Srinath joined Nigel Short in a three-way lead with six points each at the end of the sixth round of the Kolkata International Chess Open on Sunday.

Indian GM Deep Sengupta outwitted Farrukh Amonatov of Tajikistan in the second board to regain the lead which he had lost after the fourth round

Top seeded Grandmaster Nigel Short of England was joined by Indian GMs Deep Sengupta and Narayanan Srinath in a three-way lead with six points each after the sixth round of the LIC Kolkata International Open Grandmasters Chess Tournament, here on Sunday.

Fifth round report: Tukhaev takes top spot

Short, one of the major draws in the tournament, beat overnight leader Adam Tukhaev in a top-board action to gain the lead. Indian GM Deep Sengupta outwitted Farrukh Amonatov of Tajikistan in the second board to regain the lead which he had lost after the fourth round.

The other GM joining the lead was Srinath who beat compatriot Murali Karthikeyan to place himself in contention for the title.

There were a host of Indian players, including Deepan Chakkravarthy, Sandipan Chanda, Nihal Sarin, M. SR. Lalith Babu, M. Shyam Sundar and Erigaisi Arjun, who remained close behind the leaders with 5.5 points each.

Important results: Nigel Short (Eng) 6 bt Adam Tukhaev (Ukr) 5.5, Farrukh Amonatov (Tjk) 5 lost to Deep Sengupta 6, Ivan Rozum (Rus) 5.5 drew with Vladimir Burmakin (Rus) 5.5, Deepan Chakkravarthy 5.5 drew with Sandipan Chanda 5.5, Narayanan Srinath 6 bt Murali Karthikeyan 4.5, Nihal Sarin 5.5 bt Sundararajan Kidambi 4.5, M.R. Lalith Babu 5.5 bt S. Nitin 4.5, Rahul Srivatshav 4.5 lost to M. Shyam Sundar 5.5, K. Rathnakaran 4.5 lost to Erigaisi Arjun 5.5, Harsha Bharathakoti 5 drew with S. Ravi Teja 5, Nguyen Van Huy (Vie) 5 drew with Rahul Sangma 5.