FUJAIRAH (UAE), Nov 19:
Grandmaster Sandipan Chanda continued with his giant killing spree and stunned top seed Baadur Jobava to jump into joint lead at the end of the sixth round of Fujairah International Open chess tournament here today.
After beating Ni Hua of China in the previous round, Sandipan was in his elements yet again and was a treat to watch after Jobava went berserk with his planning in the game.
Sandipan joined four other over night leaders in the lead following draws on top boards.
Etienne Bacrot of France signed peace with Sergey Fedorchuk of Ukraine while Surya Shekhar Ganguly achieved the same result against Alexander Moiseenko of Ukraine.
With just three rounds remaining in the USD 50500 prize money tournament, all five leaders have 4.5 points each and they are now followed by a group of eight players who are on four points each.
The other fancied Indian, Abhijeet Gupta yet again misplayed a better position and had to settle for another draw in the tournament against Jaan Ehlvest of the United States.
With just 3.5 points in his bag for a shared 14th place, Gupta needs to find his winning touch before its too late.
Apart from Gupta, Tejas Bakre and S Satyapragyan are the other Indians with 3.5 points and in with a chance to catch up in the last few rounds.
The GM norm aspirations of V Saravanan suffered a setback after he lost to Constantin Lupulescu of Romania in the sixth round.(PTI)
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