Aarthie Ramaswamy shocked

Four players shared the lead with four points each at the end of the fifth round in the Goodricke International chess tournament at the Alekhine Chess Club in Kolkata on Thursday.

On the top board, seventh seeded Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran drew with fifth seeded GM Sarunas Sulskis of Lithuania in 37 moves, in a Nimzo Indian defence.

Sasikiran, at one point, was in a difficult position and could even have lost the game, but his opponent failed to find the correct continuation and the players eventually agreed to a draw.

On the second board, GM Evgeny Gleizerov of Russia was a pawn up early against GM Arsen Yegiazarian of Armenia in a Catalan opening but could make no headway and the game was drawn in 46 moves.

Top seed GM Alexie Aleksandrov got the better of GM Wong Zi Jing of Malaysia in a two knight's defence in 32 moves.

In a major upset, though on the lower board, unrated Krishna Thapa of Nepal beat former World under-18 girls' champion Aarthie Ramaswamy in 54 moves in a Sicilian defence.

Thapa created two passed pawns in the middle game and then won Aarthie's queen by a simple tactical trick which gave him the full point.