Nihal shares Lead with four

Sixteen year old GM Nihal Sarin of India.

Sixteen year old GM Nihal Sarin of India and four others share the lead with three points each after 3 rounds of the 3rd Sharjah Masters International Chess Championship at the Sharjah Chess Club in Sharjah.
Nihal, one of the youngest Grandmasters in the world, shares the lead with GMs Le Quang Liem of Vietnam , Ernest Inarkiev of Russia, Alexander Fier of Brazil and Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo of Venezuela. In yesterday's third round, Nihal crushed the Sicilian defense of IM Mokhas El Adnani of Morocco, threatening unstoppable mate in 34 moves. Nihal was the 2014 World Under-10 Champion, winning the title in Durban, South Africa.

Le Quang Liem, 28, beat GM Venkatesh M.R. of India in 57 moves of a Ruy Lopez by pawn promotion in a Rook and pawn endgame. Inarkiev, 33, used the Sicilian Najdorf to turn back IM Kuybokarov Temur of Australia in a marathon 86 moves. Fier, 31, used the Gruenfeld defense and sacrificed a Bishop on the 49th move to beat Aditya Mittal of India in 73 moves. Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo, 29, used the Caro Kann defense and weaved a mating net to force GM Karthik Venkataraman of India to resign after 43 moves.

Thirty players are tied with 2.5 points each in this 9 round Swiss System tournament. A strong field of 178 players from 31 countries includes 33 Grandmasters, 32 International Masters and 15 FIDE Masters. Two Woman Grandmasters, seven WIMs and 7 WFMs round of the titled players.

The tournament offers a total of $60,000 in cash prizes with a top prize of $15,000. Games start 6pm daily and broadcast live on chess sites. Visit chess-results.com round by round pairings and to download games.