TWENTY-FIVE players shared lead after third round on the opening day of the 4th Khasdar Krida Mahotasav Nagpur District Open Chess Tournament being conducted by Nagpur District Chess Association at Suresh Bhatt Sabhagruha, Reshimbagh.

The top leaders with three points include Fide Master Akash Thakur, Jay Sawalakhe, Mrudul Yadav, Dishank Bajaj, Pramod Dhamgaye among others.

Earlier, the meet was inaugurated by Corporator Shraddha Pathak. IM Anup Deshmukh was the guest of honour.

Around 225 players are participating in the tournament. Pravin Pantawane is the Chief Arbiter and is assisted by Shrikant Bagde, Sheetal Panbude, SNA Gayatri Panbude and Deepak Patrikar.

Total nine rounds will be played. The programme was conducted by KK Barat, Secretary, NDCA. Dilip Kamdar, President of NDCA, proposed a vote of thanks.

Results Round 3 (top 10): Akash Thakur (3) bt Manthan Shende (2), Shubham Lakudkar (3) bt Aarit Thakur (2), Siddhant Gawai (1) lost to Sunil T Bhugaonkar (3), CD Gajbhiye (2) lost to Dishank Bajaj (3), TM Kawadkar (2) lost to Rudraksh Borkar (3), Prathamesh Machave (2) lost to Pramod Dhamgaye (3), Krupal Wanjari(3) bt Sai Sharma (2), Aarav Bhartia (2) lost to Prerak Darvekar (3), Manthan Kale (2) lost to Amey Padmawar (3), Shaunak Badole (3) bt Sanskar Gaigore(2).