4 players, including 3 Indians on top of leaderboard

Chennai: Four players, including Ukrainian Grandmaster Mikhailo Oleksienko and three Indians share the lead with four points after round four of the Chennai Open International Grandmasters Chess Tournament, on Friday.

Apart from Oleksienko, the other three leaders are Grandmaster Neelotpal Das and International Masters Akshayraj Kore and Vishnu Prasanna of India. The highlight of the day was the three upset wins scored by Indian players against foreign Grandmasters. Kerala youngster S L Narayanan, who had recently gained an International Master norm in the World Junior Chess Championship held at Chennai, defeated highly-rated Grandmaster Mark Paragua of Philippines. Narayanan handled the Black side of a Sicilian Najdorf with aplomb. In a highly sharp situation with both sides going after the opponent`s king, Narayanan packed one punch too many for the Filipino Grandmaster to win in 39 moves. International Master Akshayraj defeated Grandmaster Marat Dzhumaev in an Evans Gambit game, while International Master Vishnu beat Grandmaster John Paul Gomez of Philippines in 46 moves in a Scotch game. A total of 19 players follow the leaders with 3.5 points in this 11-round swiss league tournament. PTI