Three Indians among 7 joint leaders at chess meet

India's International Masters N Srinath, Rathnakaran and Himanshu Sharma were among the seven players sharing the lead with three points each in the Mumbai Mayor's International Chess Tournament here.
Grand Masters Pantsulaia Levan and Paichadze Luka of Georgia, Grand Master Aleksandrov of Belarus, Grand Master Harutjunyan of Armenia are the other players sharing the lead.
All the seven players scored decisive results against their opponents.
While IM Srinath defeated Matta V, Himanshu Sharma got the better of Audi A, and Rathnakaran defeated Shailesh.
On the top board, GM Pantsulaia Levan defeated Deepak Aaron of USA in 48 moves from the black-side of the Sicilian Defense.

On the second board former Indian national champion, IM Konguvel was easily defeated by Aleksandrov in just 28 moves of the Scotch Defense, while on the third board Paichadze Luka defeated Sameer Kathmale of India from black side of Caro-Kann Defense.
A spate of draws was witnessed from board four to nine as players preferred to play safe, which included last round's giant-killer, IM Rahul Sangma.
The Rs 11-lakh prize money tournament, in which Rs 3 lakh is the top prize, features 172 players from 19 countries.