Moscow: Indian Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran drew with GM Loek van Wely of the Netherlands and remained in joint second spot after the eighth and penultimate round in the Aeroflot international open chess tournament on Tuesday.

GM Valerij Filippov of Russia drew with second-seeded compatriot Alexey Dreev and maintained his slender half-point lead with just one round to go in this $ 25,000 first-prize tournament.

Filippov has 6.5 points followed by as many as 14 players, including Dreev and Sasikiran, on 6 points.

GM Sandipan Chanda managed to beat Dmitry Chuprov of Russia while GM Praveen Thipsay drew with Igor-Alexandre Nataf of France.

International Master Neelotpal Das went down to Kaido Kulaots of Estonia.