Sasikiran upsets Fedoseev, joins Nihal

Veteran K. Sasikiran upstaged fancied Russian Vladimir Fedoseev and caught up with an unbeaten Nihal Sarin in the second score-group at 3.5 points after five rounds of $425 FIDE Grand Swiss chess tournament in Riga, Latvia, on Sunday.

In the women’s section, D. Harika drew with the 2015 World championship finalist Natalija Pogonina to reach 3.5 points.

Harika is sharing the sixth spot behind the five-leader pack.

Fifth-round results (involving Indians):

Open: Manuel Petrosyan (Arm, 3.5) drew with Nihal Sarin (3.5); P. Harikrishna (3) drew with Dariusz Swiercz (USA, 3); K. Sasikiran (3.5) bt Vladimir Fedoseev (Rus, 2.5); David Navara (Cze, 3.5) bt D. Gukesh (2.5); R. Praggnanandhaa (3) bt Rauf Mamedov (Aze, 2); Raunak Sadhwani (2.5) bt Aleksandr Rakhmanov (Rus, 1.5); Jorge Cori (Per, 2) drew with S. P. Sethuraman (2); Arjun Erigiasi (2.5) bt Aleksandra Goryachkina (Rus, 1.5); Surya Shekhar Ganguly (2) bt Luka Budisavljevic (Srb, 1); B. Adhiban (1.5) bt Antenaina Rakotomaharo (Mad, 0.5).

Women: D. Harika (3.5) drew with Natalija Pogonina (Rus, 3.5); Vantika Agarwal (3) drew with Zhansaya Abdumalik (Kaz, 3); Batkhuyag Munguntuul (Mgl, 3) bt Padmini Rout (2); Salome Melia (Geo, 2.5) drew with R. Vaishali (2.5); Madara Golsta (Lat, 0.5) lost to Divya Deshmukh (2).