International Master Koustav Chatterjee of West Bengal held top seed Grandmaster B Adhiban of PSPB to a creditable draw in the third round of the 58th Senior National Chess Championship here on Saturday.
Playing white side of the English Opening, Adhiban agreed to sign the peace treaty with his West Bengal opponent after 73 moves in an opposite colour bishop and rook ending.
Second seed Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi of Telangana beat International Master Sayantan Das of Railways to occupy the pole position in the points table along with Grandmasters Abhijeet Gupta of PSPB, D Gukesh of Tamil Nadu, Aryan Chopra of Delhi, Harsha Bharathakoti of Telangana, International Master Ravi Teja of Railways, Utsab Chatterjee and Anustoop Biswas of West Bengal with perfect score of three points.
Gupta defeated P Shyaamnikhil of Railways, while Gueksh, Aryan and Harsha accounted for Sammed Jaykumar Shete of Maharashtra, Anuj Shrivatri of Madhya Pradesh and Harshad S of Tamil Nadu respectively.
Ravi Teja outwitted Suyog Wagh of Maharashtra, while Utsab and Anustoop stunned Grandmasters Swapnil Dhopade and Visakh N R of Railways to join the top of the points table.
Former champions Karthikeyan Murali, Sethuraman S P, Lalith Babu M R and defending champion Aravindh Chithambaram were satisfied with half points each in their third-round outing against RR Laxman, Srijit Paul, Srihari L R and Shahil Dey respectively.
Earlier in the second round, Jeet Jain of Gujarat held Grandmaster Abhimanyu Puranik, while Grandmaster P Iniyan suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Suyog Wagh of Maharashtra.
GM Adhiban B of PSPB (2.5) drew with IM Koustav Chatterjee of West Bengal (2.5); IM Sayantan Das of Railways (2) lost to Arjun Erigaisi of Telangana (3); GM Abhijeet Gupta of PSPB (3) beat IM Shyaamnikhil P of Railways (2); GM Laxman RR of Railways (2.5) drew with GM Karthikeyan Murali of PSPB (2.5); GM Sethuraman SP of PSPB (2.5) drew with IM Srijit Paul of West Bengal (2.5); GM Gukesh D of Tamil Nadu (3) beat IM Sammed Jaykumar Shete (2); IM Shahil Dey of Assam (2.5) drew with GM Aravindh Chithamabram of Tamil Nadu (2.5); GM Aryan Chopra of Delhi (3) beat IM Anuj Shrivatri of Madhya Pradesh (2); IM Srihari L R of Tami Nadu (2.5) drew with GM Lalith Babu M R of PSPB (2.5); Ritviz Parab of Goa (2.5) drew with GM Mitrabha Guha of West Bengal (2.5); FM Harshad S of Tamil Nadu (2) lost to GM Harsha Bharathakoti (3); GM Swapnil Dhopade of Railways (2) lost to Utsab Chatterjee of West Bengal (3); IM Ratnakaran K of Railways (2.5) drew with IM Aditya Mittal of Maharashtra (2.5); FM Jain Kashish Manoj of Maharashtra (2.5) drew with IM Aronyak Ghosh of West Bengal (2.5); Ravi Teja S (3) beat FM Suyog Wagh of Maharashtra (2); GM Visakh N R of Railways (1.5) lost to Anustoop Biswas of West Bengal (3); Anadkat Kartavya of Gujarat (1.5) lost to GM Abhimanyu Puranik of Maharashtra (2.5); GM Sankalp Gupta of Maharashtra (2) drew with IM Saravana Krishnan P of Tamil Nadu (2); Jeet Jain of Gujarat (1.5) lost to GM Deep Sengupta of PSPB (2.5); IM Manish Anto Cristiano of Tamil Nadu (1.5) lost to GM Deepan Chakkravarthy of Railways (2.5).
