Zia, Saiful draw in 1st round of KIIT Chess Festival

GM Ziaur Rahman made a draw with Raghunandan Kaumandun Srihari of India in the 1st round game of the Elite Group of 6th KIIT International Chess Festival, which began on Saturday in Bhubaneswar, Odisha of India.
Saiful Islam Chowdhury also split points with GM Papin Vasily of Russia in his first round game.
In the platinum group (below 1999 rating) M Tipu Sultan earned three points, Ibrahim Parvez earned 2.5 points, Matiur Rahman Mamun earned two points and Shahidul Islam earned 1.5 points after the 4th round games.
A total of 147 players from nineteen countries including twenty-two grandmasters, two women grandmasters and twenty one international masters are participating in the Elite group and 225 players from four countries are taking part in the platinum group.