Pune, Jun 5 (PTI) Top-seed Farrukh Amonatov of Tajikistan and Boris Savchenko of Russia moved into the joint lead with 6.5 points each at the end of the eighth round of the first Maharashtra International Open Grandmaster chess tournament here on Sunday.

Amonatov drew his eighth round game against Mihail Nikitenko of Belarus in just 14 moves while Savchenko scored a win over Kirill Stupak in 53 moves.

Also Read | Mohamed Salah Transfer News: Barcelona Reportedly Promises Egyptian Star To Sign Him Next Season.

Four Indian players -- Arjun Kalyan, Deep Sengupta, Karthik Venkataraman and Aditya Mittal -- and Aleksej Aleksandrov of Belarus are close on the heels of the leaders with six points each.

Grandmasters Kalyan and Sengupta drew their game in 31 moves while GM Venkataraman beat Sharan Rao and Mittal signed peace with Duc Hoa Nguyen of Vietnam.

Also Read | Argentina vs Estonia, International Friendly 2022 Live Streaming & Match Time in IST: How to Watch Free Live Telecast of ARG vs EST on TV & Free Online Stream Details of Football Match in India.

Three more rounds remain to be played in the tournament.

Important Results (8th round): Farrukh Amonatov (6.5) drew with Mihail Nikitenko (5.5); Arjun Kalyan (6) drew with Deep Sengupta (6); Boris Savchenko (6) beat Kirill Stupak (3.5); Aditya Mittal (6) drew with Duc Hoa Nguyen (4); Luka Paichadze (5.5) drew with Anuj Shrivatri (2); M R Lalith Babu (5.5) drew with L R Srihari (3), Karthik Venkataraman (6) beat Sharan Rao (2.5).

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)