Kanpur, Feb 26 (IANS): International Master (IM) Koustav Chatterjee of West Bengal held top seed former champion Grandmaster B Adhiban of PSPB to a creditable draw in the third round of the ongoing MPL 58th Senior National Chess Championship here at Ganges Club on Saturday.
Playing the white side of the English Opening, Adhiban agreed to sign the peace treaty with his West Bengal opponent after 73 moves in an opposite colour bishop and rook ending.
Meanwhile, second seed GM Arjun Erigaisi of Telangana beat IM Sayantan Das of Railways to occupy the pole position of the point table along with GMs Abhijeet Gupta of PSPB, D Gukesh of Tamil Nadu, Aryan Chopra of Delhi, Harsha Bharathakoti of Telangana, IM Ravi Teja of Railways, Utsab Chatterjee and Anustoop Biswas of West Bengal with a perfect score of three points.
Former World Junior Champion Gupta defeated P Shyaamnikhil of Railways while Gueksh, Aryan and Harsha accounted for Sammed Jaykumar Shete of Maharashtra, Anuj Shrivatri of Madhya Pradesh and Harshad S of Tamil Nadu respectively. Ravi Teja outwitted Suyog Wagh of Maharashtra. Utsab and Anustoop stunned GMs Swapnil Dhopade and Visakh N.R of Railways to join those at the top of the points table.
Former champions Karthikeyan Murali, Sethuraman S.P, Lalith Babu M.R and defending champion Aravindh Chithambaram were satisfied with half points in their third-round outing against R.R Laxman, Srijit Paul, Srihari L.R and Shahil Dey respectively.
Earlier in the second round, Jeet Jain of Gujarat held GM Abhimanyu Puranik while GM P. Iniyan suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Suyog Wagh of Maharashtra.
Important Results (Round-3) GM Adhiban B of PSPB (2.5) drew with IM Koustav Chatterjee of West Bengal (2.5); IM Sayantan Das of Railways (2) lost to Arjun Erigaisi of Telangana (3); GM Abhijeet Gupta of PSPB (3) beat IM Shyaamnikhil P of Railways (2); GM Laxman RR of Railways (2.5) drew with GM Karthikeyan Murali of PSPB (2.5); GM Sethuraman SP of PSPB (2.5) drew with IM Srijit Paul of West Bengal (2.5); GM Gukesh D of Tamil Nadu (3) beat IM Sammed Jaykumar Shete (2); IM Shahil Dey of Assam (2.5) drew with GM Aravindh Chithamabram of Tamil Nadu (2.5); GM Aryan Chopra of Delhi (3) beat IM Anuj Shrivatri of Madhya Pradesh (2); IM Srihari L R of Tami Nadu (2.5) drew with GM Lalith Babu M R of PSPB (2.5); Ritviz Parab of Goa (2.5) drew with GM Mitrabha Guha of West Bengal (2.5); FM Harshad S of Tamil Nadu (2) lost to GM Harsha Bharathakoti (3); GM Swapnil Dhopade of Railways (2) lost to Utsab Chatterjee of West Bengal (3); IM Ratnakaran K of Railways (2.5) drew with IM Aditya Mittal of Maharashtra (2.5); FM Jain Kashish Manoj of Maharashtra (2.5) drew with IM Aronyak Ghosh of West Bengal (2.5); Ravi Teja S (3) beat FM Suyog Wagh of Maharashtra (2); GM Visakh N R of Railways (1.5) lost to Anustoop Biswas of West Bengal (3); Anadkat Kartavya of Gujarat (1.5) lost to GM Abhimanyu Puranik of Maharashtra (2.5); GM Sankalp Gupta of Maharashtra (2) drew with IM Saravana Krishnan P of Tamil Nadu (2); Jeet Jain of Gujarat (1.5) lost to GM Deep Sengupta of PSPB (2.5); IM Manish Anto Cristiano of Tamil Nadu (1.5) lost to GM Deepan Chakkravarthy of Railways (2.5).
Round - 2:- Sai Agni Jeevitesh lost to Adhiban B; Arjun Erigaisi beat Ayush Sharma; Sharan Rao lost to Abhijeet Gupta; Karthikeyan Murali beat Niranjan Navalgund; Rahul Sangma lost to Sethuraman S P; Abhimanyu Puranik drew with Jeet Jain; Ayushh Ravikumar lost to Gukesh D; Aravindh Chithambaram beat Aaryan Varshney; Mohamed Anees lost to Aryan Chopra; Lalith Babu M R beat Bharat Kumar Reddy Poluri; Deep Sengupta drew with Anadkat Kartavya; Ravi T S drew with Visakh N R; Deepan Chakkravarthy drew with Aradhya Garg; Suyog Wagh beat Iniyan P; Mitrabha Guha beat Soham Kamotra.