Pantasalaia Levan in lead

Grandmaster Pantasalaia Levan (ELO 2577) of Georgia emerged sole leader with five points at the end of the 5th round of 7th Mumbai Mayor's Cup International Open Chess Tournament Co-Sponsored by LIC and Bajaj Almond Hair Oil at the Thakur College here on Thursday.

The second bunch on 4 ½ points had GM Aleksandrov Aleksej (ELO 2554) along with three Indians, namely IM Swayams Mishra (ELO 2457), IM Shardul Gagare (ELO 2446) and IM Shyam Nikhil P (ELO 2444).

GM Levan, playing with white, opted for Reti opening, which got converted to English against Im Himanshu Sharma. On the 15th move, Himanshu protected his pawn by moving it ahead and gave the advantage to Levan, but the exchange of Queen led to almost an equal end game. However, a bad move again by Himanshu gave a decisive advantage to Levan, who won in 48 moves.

On the 3rd board, Indian upcoming IM Shyam Nikhil P shocked GM Neverov Valeriy (ELO 2504) in 38 moves. Playing with white, Shyam faced Sicilian Defense Kan Variation. Both castled on the opposite side opening up opportunities for stronger attack. With the advantage of Bishop against Knight, Shyam Nikhil won the game.

Results: GM P Levan (GEO) 5 pts bt IM H Sharma (IND) 4, GM Paichadze 4 drew with GM A Aleksej 4.5, IM S Nikil P. 4.5 bt GM N Valeriy 3.5, GM V Sergy 4 drew with IM R Bhuvanesh R. 4, IM Rathnakaran 3.5 lost to IM S Mishra 4.5, IM S Gagare 4.5 bt S Shah 3.5, GM Mchedlishvili 4 bt S Lyna Narayanan 3, A Deepak 3.5 drew with Ovetchkin 3.5, GM P Vasily 3.5 drew with FM T Ulugbek 3.5, GM T Georgy 3.5 drew with IM P Konguvel 3.5