Pune, Apr 23 (PTI) Goa’s Nitin Belurkar finished as the sole leader with five points at the end of the fifth round in the third Maharashtra Open Grandmaster Chess event here on Wednesday.

In the fifth round, Belurkar, playing with white, scored a victory over Sandipan Chanda to maintain a clean slate in the competition.

In category B, Karnataka’s A Balkishan drew with Ram Krishnan from Tamil Nadu after 30 moves and ended with 7.5 points after nine rounds to win the event.

He walked away with the winner’s trophy and a cash prize of Rs 1,10,000, while runner-up Advik Agrawal won Rs 95,000 for finishing second. Third-placed Anadkat Kartavya got Rs 85,000. PTI DDV AM DDV AM AM