Seyyed Mohammad Amin Tabatabaei contemplates a move during the eighth round of the Sharjah Masters International Chess Championship.

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

Ukrainian Grandmaster Pavel Eljanov, India’s SL Narayanan and Iranian Grandmaster Seyyed Mohammad Amin Tabatabaei share the lead Sharjah Masters International Chess Championship’s lead after the completion of penultimate round on Friday.

The fourth edition of the Sharjah Masters International Chess Championship is being held under the patronage of His Highness Dr Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah.

The Ukrainian drew with Narayan while UAE’s Grandmaster Salem Abdulrahman Mohamed Saleh also managed to draw level with Georgian Grandmaster Mchedlishvili Mikheil.

The eighth round of the Sharjah Masters was opened by Saud Al Marzouqi, Chairman of the National Teams Committee at UAE Chess Federation, Muhammad Abdullah, Technical Director of the UAE Chess Federation, Amer Ali Hassan, International Arbiter, Omar Noman Al Ali, Assistant Secretary-General of Sharjah Cultural Chess Club and Tournament Director.

Meanwhile, Amin Tabatabaei produced another stellar performance and gained a decisive victory over Azerbaijani Grandmaster Arkadij Naiditsch.

41 Grandmasters, two women Grandmasters, 13 International Masters and two FIDE Masters are taking part in the fourth edition of the Sharjah Master International Championship, which offers a prize purse of $60,000.

Fast Contracting Company, National Paints and Centro Sharjah Hotel are the sponsors of the fourth edition of the Sharjah Masters International Chess Championship.