Vidit Gujrathi beats Arsovic, remains in joint lead

Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi defeated International Master Zoran Arsovic of Serbia to remain in joint lead with three points after the end of the third round of Grand Europe Golden Sands International Chess tournament here.
After rocking victories in the previous round, Shardul Gagare and Anurag Mahamal ran out of steam and went down to compatriots Grandmasters M R Venkatesh and M Shyam Sundar respectively.
Venkatesh, Sundar, Gujrathi and youngest Indian GM in the fray Sahaj Grover share the lead with Zbynek Hracek of Czech Republic, Tamir Nabaty of Israel, Vladislav Nevednichy of Romania, David Paravyan of Russia and Sanal Vahap of Turkey with six rounds still to come in this 40000 Euro prize money tournament.

It turned out to be a mixed day for the Indians at the top as Ashwin Jayaram survived a difficult endgame to hold Dragan Solka of Turkey to a draw while N Srinath did well to draw with Bulgarian GM Vasil Spasov.
On the flip side from the Indian perspective, Turkish youngster Sanal Vahap defeated GM S Arun Prasad and former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta was held to a draw by Iveri Chighladze of Georgia. Both Gupta and Prasad are amongst those who have two points.
The Indian ladies continued to perform excellently. R Bharathi took her tally to two points after drawing with International Master Radoslav Dimitrov of Bulgaria and Bhakti Kulkarni proved her first round draw with Abhijeet Gupta was no flash in the pan as she held another regarded Grandmaster - Levente Vajda of Romania - to a draw.

Eesha Karavade and Kiran Manisha Mohanty bounced back in the tournament with victories in the third round but Avetik Grigoryan defeated National women's champion Mary Ann Gomes.