9 players share chess lead

Nine players tied for the first place after the fourth round of the Raja Bahadur Venkatarama Reddy Memorial Fide rating chess tournament, being held at the Raja Bahadur Venkata Ram Reddy Women’s College at Narayanguda in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

Y. Grahesh, Varun Anant, Kuldeep Kashyap, Sai Akshay, S. Khan, Naren Kumar, Raghav Srivathsav, Dhiraj Patil and Samal Ansuman, with four points from four rounds, topped the table.

In close pursuit is Duvvala Suresh, who scored 3.5 points so far.

Grahesh proved too good for Y. Ravi Kumar in the fourth round, while Varun beat Sai Agni Jeevitesh. Kashyap, meanwhile, easily outfoxed Anand Naik. S. Khan defeated Rahul Srivathsav while Raghav defeated Trinav Rattan. SELECTED RESULTS (ROUND 4) K. Ravi Kumar (3) lost to Y. Grahesh (4); Sai Agni Jeevitesh (3) lost to Varun Anant (4); Kuldeep Kashyap ( 4) beat Anand Naik (3); Rahul Srivathsav ( 3) lost to S. Khan ( 4); Sai Akshay (4) beat Chandra Sekhar (3); Harshavardhan (3) lost to Naren Kumar (4); Trinav Rattan (3) lost to Raghav Srivathsav (4); Dhiraj Patil (4) beat S.V.S. Rohith (3); Samal Ansuman (4) beat V. Toshali (3) LEADERS 1. Y. Grahesh, 2. S. Khan, 3. Kuldeep Kashyap, 4. Dhiraj Patil, 5. Raghav Srivathsav V., 6. Samal Ansuman, 7. Varun Anant, 8. Naren N. Kumar, 9. Sai Akshay Y., 10. Duvvala Suresh, 11. Chetan Sharma, 12. Prateek Srivastava, 13. Toshali V. 14. Sai Agni Jeevitesh J., 15. Rohil Verma, 16. Chandra Sekhar S. S., 17. Harshavardhan Reddy G.