Zia in the 2nd place

Grand Master Ziaur Rahman shared the second position at the end of fifth round in the Elite Category of 8th KIIT International Chess Festival at Bhubaneswar in Odisha in India yesterday.

Zia drew with Russian GM Smirnov Pavel in his fifth board to join nine other players with four points each.

GM Enamul Hossain Rajib also followed the footsteps of Zia as he drew his board against Indian IM Swayams Mishra and shared the third position with 20 other players with 3.5 points each from five matches while the other Bangladeshi GM Abdullah Al Rakib lost to Indian Himanshu Sharma to remain stuck to his previous three points from five outings.