National champion Krishnan Sasikiran (7), the only Indian hope for the prize and a place in the top ten, lost a fighting game to IM Rufat Bagirov (8) in Grunfeld defence.

Grandmaster-norm holder Abhijit Kunte (7) got a creditable draw against Grandmaster Joe Gallagher (7) of Switzerland. Abhijit had earlier toppled GM Rashkovsky.

Another Indian teenager Sunder Rajan Kidambi (7) scored an upset win over third-seed Grandmaster Shariyazdanov (6) in an irregular queen-pawn opening.

In a game, marked for fluctuating fortunes, IM DV Prasad (7) held Ukranian GM Vladimir Tukmakov (7) to a draw. Pravin Thipsay (6.5), the only Indian GM in the field, lost tountitled Mark Loeffler (7.5) of Germany from black side of Ruy Lopez game.

Important Results

S Volkov (Rus) 9 bt A Grischuk (Rus) 8; A Greenfeld (Isr) 8.5 bt Al Kveinys (Lat) 8; J Gallagher (Sui) 7 drew with A Kunte (Ind) 7; K Sasikiran (Ind) 7 lost to R Bagirov (Aze) 8; V Tukmakov ((Ukr) 7 drew with DV Prasad (Ind) 7; Sharjyazdanov (Rus) 6 lost to S Kidambi (Ind) 7; M Loeffier (Ger) 7.5 bt P Thipsay (Ind) 6.5.

Final Placings

1. S Volkov (9); 2. Alon Greenfeld (8.5); 3. M Pavlovic (8.5); 4. A Grischuk (8); 5. Z Sturua (8); 6. Al Kveinys (8); 7. R Bagirov (8); 8. A Bykhovsky (8); 18. A Kunte (7); 19. DV Prasad (7); 20. Sasikiran (7); 24. Kidambi (7); 30. P Thipsay (6.5)

Harikrishna upset

AURANGABAD: IM Neelotpal Das (ONGC), IM Lanka Ravi (ONGC) and IM-elect Shankar Roy (Rlys) jointly share the lead with 4 points each at the end of the fourth round of the Open International Rating Chess here today.

As many as 11 players were on the heels of the leaders with 3.5 points each totheir credit. They are Dinesh Sharma (LIC), R Bandhopadhyay (WB), SK Rathore (MP), S Satyapragyan (Ori), Mahesh Chandran (TN), IM RB Ramesh (IOC), SS Ganguly (Gnca), Nisha Mohata (WB), V Goswami (Raj), RK Mishra (MP) and Swati Ghate (Mah).