Pune, Apr 24 (PTI) Goa's Nitin Belurkar emerged as the sole leader with 5.5 points at the end of the sixth round of the 3rd Maharashtra International Open Grandmaster chess tournament here on Thursday.

Playing with black pieces on the top board, Belurkar opted for the Sicilian Defence and settled for a draw against Ayush Sharma of Madhya Pradesh after 32 moves.

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This was Belurkar's first draw in the tournament following five consecutive wins.

Sharma, with five points, is currently placed second in the standings.

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Results: A Category: 6th Round: Ayush Sharma(5pts, MP) drew with Nitish Belurkar(5.5pts, GA); Petrosyan Manuel(4.5pts, ARM) drew with Deepan Chakkravarthy J (4.5pts, RSPB); Mohammad Shaikh (4.5pts, MH) drew with Pantsulaia Levan (4.5pts, GEO); Aakash Dalvi (4.5pts, MH) drew with Neelash Saha (4.5pts, RSPB); Podolchenko Evgeniy (4.5pts, BLR) drew with Sanikidze Tornike (4.5pts, GEO);

Savchenko Boris(4.5pts, RUS) bt Suyog Wagh(4pts, MH); Deep Sengupta(4.5pts, PSPB) bt Dzhumaev Marat (3.5pts, UZB); Sandipan Chanda(4.5pts, WB) bt Velpula Sarayu(3.5pts, TS).

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