Dreev, Arun Prasad move on top

New Delhi, Jan 18 (UNI) Alexey Dreev justified his top billing as the Russian Grand Master decimated overnight leader Dibyendu Barua to claim a three-way lead after the sixth round of the fifth Parsvnath International Chess tournament here today.

GM norm holder S Arun Prasad was a surprise package today as he shocked Grandmaster Saidali Iuldachev of Uzbekistan to move to the top while Uzbek GM Safin Shukhrat defeated Indian GM Abhijit Kunte to join Prasad and Dreev.

With four rounds still to come all the three leaders have 5.5 points each in their kitty and they are now followed by as many as 19 players on 5 points including Barua, GM Yuri Drozdovskij of Ukraine, GM Ahmed Adly of Egypt and GM Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh.

Country's best pre-event bet GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly is on 4.5 points.

The day had its normal share of upsets with the top one being Arun Prasad's victory over Iuldachev in a long drawn game. Playing the black side of a Sicilian Najdorf, Arun Prasad was surprised early in the opening as Iuldachev came up with a queen sacrifice for some positional compensation. Prasad, to his credit, held on to his own and slowly converted his material advantage in to a full point.

For Dreev it turned out to be a one-sided affair as Barua could not match him in the middle game arising out of a Classical Sicilian and surrendered after 40 moves.

GM Abhijeet Kunte, however had no such luck and he had to pay heavily for his over ambitious play against Shukhrat.

Getting a better position out of the opening as white, Kunte tried just too hard to break the defenses of Shukhrat but the latter turned the tables with emphatic counter play.

UNI