Sahaj Grover beats Irina Zakurdjaeva

International Master norm holder Sahaj Grover staked his claim for his second IM norm by defeating Women Grandmaster Irina Zakurdjaeva of Russia in the fourth round of the 6 th Parsvnath International Chess tournament now in progress here at Modern Schol Barkhamba Road.

Having drawn the third round with higher rated IM Akshayraj Kore, Sahj displayed top form in cruising past the Russian WGM who could not withstand the continued assault from the upcoming local player. Sahaj took his tally to 3.5 points out of a possible four in this strongest open of the country and is now a strong contender for his second IM norm.

Meanwhile, at the top of the tables Georgian turned Spaniard GM Elizbar Ubilava continued to make merry at the expense of Taibur Rahmn of Bangladesh and remained in joint lead along with 11 others with a perfect 4/4 score. Top seed GM Ehsan Ghames Maghmi of Iran had it easy against GM norm holder M S Thej Kumar who played black and is also amongst the leaders. The shocker of the day was Arjun Tiwari's victory over seasoned International Master S Kidambi who remained on 3 points after the debacle.

Four times National Champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly came back in to reckoning when talented N Srinath could not play the best available moves in a complicated endgame. Srinath had earlier sacrificed a piece against Ganguly and when the dust subsided he apparently had a draw that went awry with his wrong plan.

In a notable result triple GM norm holder G B Prakash defeated Yuri Solodovnichenko of Ukraine.

Asian Women's champion Tania Sachdev too made scored a comeback victory over Deeragh Raj Joshi. Tania took her tally to a respectable 3 points with this win.

Important results round 4 (Indians unless specified):

Ehsan Ghaem Maghmi (Iri, 4) beat M S Thej Kumar (3); Igor Kurnosov (Rus, 4) beat Vishnu Prasana (3); V Saravanan (3.5) drew with Abhijit Kunte ( 3.5); Elizbar Ubilava (Esp, 4) beat Taibur Rahman (Ban, 3); G B Prakash (4) beat Yuri Solodovnichenko (Ukr, 3); Marat Dzhumaev (Uzb, 4) beat Sashikant Kutwal (3); N S Babu (3) lost to Enamul Hossain (Ban, 4); Morteza Mahzob (Iri, 4) beat Atanu Lahiri (3); Safin Shukrat (Uzb, 4) beat Nassir Wajih (3); D P Singh (3) lost to Zia ur Rahman (Ban, 4); Arjun Tiwari (4) beat S Kidambi (3); Ram Prakash (3) lost to S Arun Prasad (4).