Adhiban holds Kasimdzhanov to stay in joint lead

Grandmaster B Adhiban continued to stay in joint lead after holding former world champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan to an easy draw in the fourth round of the Asian Chess Championship here.
The draw helped Adhiban take his tally to 3.5 points out of a possible four and the Indian continues to lead the tables along with with Yu Yangyi of China and Ehsan Ghaem Maghami of Iran.
The day was dominated by hard-fought draws and not much changed in terms of standing. Yu Yangyi and Maghami also signed peace and there was no decisive game on the top five boards.

Indian Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta, however, suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Al-Sayed Mohammed of Qatar in a game that should also have ended in a draw as well.
With three leaders in front on 3.5 points, there are as many as 13 players sharing the fourth spot on three points each including Indian Grandmasters V Vishnu Prasanna, S P Sethuraman and G N Gopal.
Highest-rated Indian in the fray, Krishnan Sasikiran took his tally to 2.5 points with an easy victory against Gao Rui.

He is still left with a lot of catching up to do, but Sasikiran took his tally to 2.5 points out of his four games along with Vidit Gujrathi, Debashish Das, Parimarjan Negi and Surya Shekhar Ganguly.

Five rounds still remain in the championship which is a part of the next World Championship cycle.
Adhiban had little problems against Kasimdzhanov out of a King's Indian defense game where the former played white. Getting a tangible position out of the opening, Adhiban worked out his way through a knight sortie that led to a complicated position.
With Adhiban's bishop controlling important squares in the center, Kasimdzhanov decided against any risk and proposed the draw in just 25 moves that was accepted.
In the women's championship being organised simultaneously, International Master Tania Sachdev scored a much needed victory over Hulkar Tohirjonova of Uzbekistan to stay in hunt.