Chennai based Grandmaster Sethuraman S.P and Ukrainian Grandmaster Vladislav Borovikov took the joint lead with four half points after five rounds at the Hyderabad International Grandmasters Chess Tournament at Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy Indoor Stadium, Yousufguda, on Thursday .
Playing white side of Alekhine's Defence game, Sethu exploited the weakness in the King side of Grandmaster Lalith Babu to garner full points after 41 moves while Vladislav defeated Azerbaijan Grandmaster Azer Mirzoev in a Slav defence game that lasted 37 moves to join Sethu at top of point table.
In the 'B' category of the event, for players below 2100 rating, Andhra Pradesh lad Raja Rithvik held second seed Ketan Khaire of Maharasthra while Tamilnadu youngster Aditya S. shocked fourth seed Anurag Jaiswal of West Bengal.
In another upset Tulasi Ram Kumar of Andhra Pradesh outwitted sixth seed Kranthi Kumar.
